HP (HPQ) Stock Moves -0.74%: What You Should Know

HP (HPQ) closed at $38.70 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.74% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.42%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.49%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.47%.

Coming into today, shares of the personal computer and printer maker had gained 7.53% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 4.18%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.39%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from HP as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect HP to post earnings of $1.03 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 11.96%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $16.61 billion, up 6.16% from the year-ago period.

HPQ's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.16 per share and revenue of $65.98 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +9.76% and +3.92%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for HP. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. HP currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that HP has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.38 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.77.

We can also see that HPQ currently has a PEG ratio of 3.66. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Computer - Mini computers industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.68 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Mini computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 56, which puts it in the top 22% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow HPQ in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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