What happened
Shares of computer and printer company HP (HPQ +0.81%) fell on Wednesday after the company announced financial results for the fiscal third quarter of 2022. As of noon ET, HP stock was down 6%.
So what
In Q3, HP's revenue fell 4% year over year to $14.7 billion, falling short of analysts' expectations. However, its earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.08, better than the high end of management's guidance as well as what analysts expected.
Key Data Points
Considering Q3 results were mixed, I think Wall Street is negatively reacting more to guidance from HP's management than to Q3 itself. For 2022, HP's management thinks it will generate EPS of $3.46 to $3.56, down from previous guidance of $3.79 to $3.93.
HP's lowered guidance includes a small $0.05-per-share hit from its recent acquisition of video-conferencing hardware company Poly. But the bigger issue is inflation, which is causing consumers to spend less on HP's products and input costs to go up. And because spending is soft, management doesn't have as much pricing power as it would like to offset the increased costs.
Now what
With today's drop, HP trades at less than nine times its expected profits in 2022. According to Yardeni Research, that's less than half the average price-to-earnings valuation of the S&P 500, placing HP firmly in value-stock territory.
Times are tough, but considering HP is still very profitable, is committed to repurchasing shares (it spent $1 billion in Q3 alone), and pays a dividend that's yielding over 3%, I'm inclined to think that HP stock could be a good investment from here for patient investors.
