Company name Hewlett-Packard Company
Stock ticker HPQ
Live stock price [stckqut]HPQ[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good
MANAGEMENT EXECUTION
Employee productivity Fair
Sales growth Poor
EPS growth Poor
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Poor
ANALYSIS
Confident Investor Rating Poor
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $22.43
Target stock price (averages with growth) $32.64
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $37.75
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $35.8

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I do not think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in this stock. HP is a Dow 30 company but it has some incredibly tough competitors and has not grown effectively even though it is considered to be in a growth market.

The last time that I looked at Hewlett-Packard [stckqut]HPQ[/stckqut], I rated the company a Fair company and encouraged you not to buy it. I haven’t rechecked the numbers since then but the recent news of Hewlett-Packard buying 3-Com begs the question, does this acquisition invoke the rule of not buying a company that just recently changed its size due to acquisition or divestiture?

The quick answer is no.  According to Reuters, 3-Com had quarterly revenue of 290.5M and HP had revenue of 27,451.0M.  Since 3-Com is less than 10%, HP should have little trouble absorbing the smaller company without affecting its major operations.

Remember, the magic number is 10%. If it goes over that number, stay away for awhile.

Company name Hewlett-Packard Company
Stock ticker HPQ
Live stock price [stckqut]HPQ[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good

Management execution:

Employee productivity Fair
Sales growth Fair
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Fair

Analysis:

Confident Investor Rating Fair
Target stock price (high) $56.04
Target stock price (low) $35.44

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I do not think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in this stock.