What happened
Shares of HP Inc. (HPQ 1.14%) rose 26.2% in 2016, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
Recently separated from the business-minded Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE 1.83%), the more consumer-oriented half of the old HP conglomerate executed crisply all year long.
HP met or exceeded all of Wall Street's earnings targets in 2016, while its return on equity skyrocketed. The company also won several patent disputes over printing technologies in markets such as China and Poland, introduced a new equipment-leasing program for corporate workstation computers, and leaned into the emerging market for 3D printing systems.
Image source: HP.
Now what
HP is off to a great start despite my early misgivings, and investors are hardly complaining about these market-beating returns. Even so, the stock trades at just 10.4 times trailing earnings while offering a generous 3.6% dividend yield. Value investors should take a closer look at HP's printing and consumer products incarnation.
