Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) released its latest earnings report on Monday, posting earnings of $1.06 per share on $28.406 billion in revenue. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $1.06 per share on $28.67 billion in revenue. HP had guided for earnings of between $1.03 and $1.07 per share.
Key metrics from Hewlett-Packard’s earnings report
In their report dated Nov. 25, 2014, Stifel analysts Aaron Rakers, Joseph Quatrochi and Andrew Shinn said they believe the company’s latest quarterly report will be seen mostly as neutral by Wall Street. Gross margins improved slightly to 24.6%. Operating expenditures were slightly higher than their estimate, coming in at $4.24 billion, compared to Stifel’s estimate of $4.22 billion.
For the first fiscal quarter of 2015, Hewlett-Packard guided for non-GAAP earnings of between 89 cents and 93 cents per share. The Stifel team had been projecting earnings of 85 cents per share, while overall consensus estimates suggested earnings of 93 cents per share.
HP continues to generate strong free cash flow
The Stifel analysts note that Hewlett-Packard reported $1.89 billion in free cash flow during the fourth fiscal quarter. Total free cash flow for the 2014 fiscal year was $9.3 billion, compared to the previous year’s $9.1 billion. HP had initially guided for between$6 billion and $6.5 billion in free cash flow, although the company later increased that guide to about $9 billion.
Revenue from HP’s Enterprise Group was $7.27 billion, compared to Stifel’s estimate of $7.53 billion and Wall Street’s estimate of $7.51 billion. Revenue from the company’s Industry Standard Server segment declined 2.3% year over year to $3.37 billion. Storage revenue fell 7.8% year over year to $878 million, while BCS revenue plunged 29% year over year and networking revenue edged upward 2% to $669 million.
Technology Services revenue slipped 3% year over year to $2.1 billion, while Software revenue was $1.09 billion, beating Stifel’s estimate of $1.04 billion. Revenue from PCs was slightly behind Stifel’s estimate, coming in at $8.948 billion, compared to the firm’s estimate of $8.995 billion. Printing revenue was $5.74 billion, missing their estimate of $5.75 billion, while Enterprise Services revenue was $5.5 billion.
