The way market pundits are wagging the finger at Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE:HPQ) disappointing quarter, CEO Carly Fiorina may want to think twice before pointing to the fence next time she's up to bat. After all, this was the same person who assured us that HP was no longer an integration story, while praising the $3.5 billion in yearly synergistic savings.
So, what's all the fuss about? For the quarter, total revenues grew to $17.4 billion; however, pro forma profits of $0.23 a share fell three cents shy of earlier projections -- and that's before a laundry list of charges marked that down to just 10 cents.
And don't overlook the fact that $739 million of the company's $858 million operating profits come from HP's flagship printing and imaging business. Yes, the company may be a leaner outfit these days, but it's still no closer in justifying the controversial merger with Compaq.
Quite the contrary, Hewlett-Packard posted operating losses for both its personal and enterprise systems divisions -- the very divisions it was banking on when it spent $19 billion for Compaq. Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) certainly isn't having any problems competing in these areas, and Gateway (NYSE:GTW) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) diversified when PC demand pulled up lame. Will HP be next?
Going forward, management has some lofty fourth-quarter goals (roughly $0.35 per share, on earnings on at least $18.8 billion in revenue), and maybe the integration story is best left muddy. Heck, if this is the merger that is saving Hewlett-Packard $3.5 billion a year and the Compaq side is still in the red, what does that imply about Compaq's real value?
Either the company was worth well shy of $19 billion or Fiorina hasn't done much of an integration job. The vaunted "HP Way" is a two-way street. Watch out for head-on collisions.
Was this just a quarterly blip or has Fiorina's master plan for HP been derailed? Did Hewlett-Packard do the right thing in buying Compaq? With strength in its services, is the company now a more fitting rival of IBM than Dell? All this and more -- in theHewlett-Packard discussion board . Only on Fool.com.
