HP braces itself for worst results ever

HP is expected to announce its worst results ever later today and blame a weak PC market and uncertainty in Europe.

While analysts are expecting the worst, according to Marketwatch what is worrying them is how well HP is doing in the corporate market.

Last week, Dell warned that companies were cautious when it comes to IT spending and that US companies are scaling back investment plans.

This means that any hope of an economic recovery could be dashed and HP could be indicator that things are going to get worse.

Analysts expect HP report earnings of $1.14 a share, on revenue of $30.44 billion.

This is even less than the last dismissal profit of $1.17 a share, on revenue of $32.12 billion last year.

HP’s share price has fallen by over 30 percent during the last three months and 50 percent over the past year.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi expects HP to report that things were worse than anyone expected as as the company has continued to lose share in PCs and x86 servers, and likely again saw tepid printer performance.

Any hope that Windows 8 might spark an upswing in sales are unlikely to be seen until the the second-half of 2013.

Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu however thinks that HP’s problems could be offset by healthier trends in servers and services. It is this area which could decide if HP is really in trouble or not. If this particular business has not picked up, then it means that HP is also losing market share, which could be serious.

Crucial to this will be the success or otherwise of HP’s Autonomy purchase. If Autonomy shows signs of life, partners and Wall Street should applaud. But if HP writes down/writes off the value of the 2011 Autonomy buyout, it will be yet another challenge in HP’s limp to recovery.

HP is expected to be hard hit in Europe as the region makes up a third of its revenues.