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the Free CMSWire NewsletterIf investors and observers were looking for clarity from HP’s quarterly figures, then last night’s conference call by newbie CEO Meg Whitman won’t have disappointed. There were a lot of issues cleared up, even if some of the news was not what investors might have hoped for.
The bad news is the fact that, for 2012, Whitman is predicting a sluggish market, not because of anything that HP is doing or not doing, but because no one is quite sure whether the global economy will tank or not, and enterprises are holding onto their money.
She was also clear that no decision has been made yet on WebOS, throwing a major spanner into the rumor mill that has already postulated that even Oracle might buy it.
However, she did clarify HPs strategy for the next year, which will consist of developing the talent and products that it already has — could this mean a reprieve for webOS? — stamping out the acquisition fire that saw HP pay over US$ 10 billion for Autonomy, and knocking on the head speculation that HP is going to turn itself into a software company.
In fact, going down through the list of things that she said, there is hardly a single item that does not contradict Leo Apotheker’s now-infamous statement last August that outlined a future of HP as a software company rather than the infrastructure and hardware giant it is.
And if some were not best pleased by yet another change in direction for HP, then it was only a few as, for the first time in 18 months, HP has told us all what it is going to do in the coming year.
It may not be pretty, but it certainly pleased investors, with stock rising by 1% directly after Whitman’s intervention, and promptly falling again by 3% as the news sank in that next year will be a tough year, not just for HP, but for the industry in general.
HP in Q4
But let’s get the money out of the way first. For a company that has been turning itself inside out for a long time, it hasn’t performed too badly.
Overall, sales fell 3% to US$ 32.1 billion, still topping analysts' forecasts of US$ 32 billion with net income for the fiscal fourth quarter, ending October 31 falling 91% to US$ 239 million.
In those results was a US$ 2.2 billion in one-time charges, including US$ 885 million in incentive programs to sell stock of webOS devices such as the TouchPad tablet. Without that charge, HP said it earned US$ 2.4 billion.
Results were boosted by a 9% sales increase in Brazil, Russia, India and China that partly made up for declines in the U.S. and Europe.
BIFF! BANG! Leo Apotheker
If it wasn’t talking billions here, the figures themselves would be by the bye as the market looked for some kind of indication of where HP would be going in the next 12 months.
From the beginning of the conference call, Whitman pinned her colors to the mast, and went on the attack against the vision that her predecessor announced in August.
She opened the conference with a clear definition of what HP is and will be in the future:
HP is the largest provider of IT infrastructure, software and solutions to individuals and businesses of all sizes. We're a leader in PCs, printers, servers, storage, automation and services."
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