Investing

Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) Invulnerability

HP (HPQ) is a curious stock by many measures. Over the last year, it has whipped shares in competitors including IBM (IBM) and Dell (DELL). But, what may be more telling is its performance in the market downturn. During last week, HP was up 5% at one point and ended the week up over 3%.

HP must have some strong attraction both is good markets and bad.

It may be that the company’s diversification pulls in Wall St. dollars. It now has significant share in the software, PC, server, and printer businesses. The company is the market share leader globally in both PCs and servers. Its lucrative software business is growing and the company is using its high stock price to buy up smaller tactical additions to add to its arsenal.

HP has also proven itself to be a master cost-cutter. As revenues have increased, so have margins. The market views management as brutal on keeping costs low, letting employees go even as its operations do better.

No one should be surprised if HP continues to run. The market does not seem to drag it down even when the going gets tough.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Take This Retirement Quiz To Get Matched With An Advisor Now (Sponsored)

Are you ready for retirement? Planning for retirement can be overwhelming, that’s why it could be a good idea to speak to a fiduciary financial advisor about your goals today.

Start by taking this retirement quiz right here from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes. Smart Asset is now matching over 50,000 people a month.

Click here now to get started.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.