S&P 500
7,507.80
-0.22%
Dow Jones
51,595.40
-0.32%
Nasdaq 100
30,411.80
-0.23%
Russell 2000
2,975.48
-0.09%
FTSE 100
10,384.80
-0.34%
Nikkei 225
71,987.20
+0.02%

Investing

Rumors We Would Like To Hear: HP Sells PC Unit

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published

Invalid Image
Hewlett-Packard’s (NYSE: HPQ) new CEO Leo Apotheker can rearrange his management team as much as he likes. He can also push out his most talented executive, Ann Livermore, who has been at HP for over 20 years.

None of this solves HP’s core problem. It is in several no-growth business–particularly PCs. The sector is under siege by tablet PCs, led by Apple’s (NYSE: AAPL) iPad and the Samsung Galaxy, and smartphones which now operate as portable computers

The firm’s Personal Systems Group manufacturers and sells commercial PCs, consumer PCs, workstations and calculators. In the quarter which ended April 30, revenue from this group fell from $10 billion last year to $9.4 billion. Operating income rose from $465 million to $533 million.

The PC operation is a legacy one. It was formed when HP bought Compaq in 20o1 for $25 billion. The business is now trapped in a sector with Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Acer, and Lenovo.PCs have become commodities with especially low margins.

HPQ can focus on its more valuable and faster growing enterprise businesses with PCs gone.

What is the unit worth? Based on Dell’s valuable, about $20 billion. As a matter of fact, Dell might be a buyer.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

The $2.3 Million 401(k) Tax Trap: Why Maxing Out Costs You $64,000 in Retirement
Marc Guberti |

The $2.3 Million 401(k) Tax Trap: Why Maxing Out Costs You $64,000 in Retirement
Bernie Sanders vs. Elon Musk: Would Taxing the Rich Actually Save Social Security?
Michael Williams |

Bernie Sanders vs. Elon Musk: Would Taxing the Rich Actually Save Social Security?

Continue Reading

How Dell Managed to Pull Off a Win in Q2 Despite Huge Hurdles
Chris Lange |

How Dell Managed to Pull Off a Win in Q2 Despite Huge Hurdles

Dell Technologies reported better than expected second-quarter results, sending shares to a new 52-week high.

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Icahn Offer for Dell Increases Investor Risk

courtesy Dell Inc.Carl Icahn and partner Southeastern Capital Management will offer Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) stockholders two alternatives, if their…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

America’s Hottest Brands

24/7 Wall St. asked CoreBrand to identify America’s hottest brands. We wanted to know the biggest brands that were the…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

With Rise in Lenovo, Dell and HP Face Unstoppable Challenge

ThinkstockAnyone who doubted that the race for global personal computer (PC) supremacy has shifted outside the United States only needs…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Dell’s Future: A Sell-Off of Its Parts

courtesy Dell Inc.Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is besieged by investors who want an alternative future to Michael Dell’s plans to…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Why a New Dell Buyout?

courtesy Dell Inc.Financial firm Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) may make a offer to take Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) private, an offer…

247alex |

CEOs Whose Companies Made Them Rich

White House Photo by Pete SouzaWarren Buffett holds an estimated $56.5 billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock — the most…

How Dell Crushed Its Q2 Earnings
Chris Lange |

How Dell Crushed Its Q2 Earnings

Dell shares rallied after it released a better than expected second-quarter earnings report late on Thursday.

Douglas A. McIntyre |

J.C. Penney Earnings and Dell Revenue Show Recovery May Be Near

courtesy Dell Inc.The earnings reports of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) show that revenues…

Top Gaining Stocks

CarMax
KMX • Vol: 7,330,419
Corning
GLW • Vol: 22,800,969
Intel
INTC • Vol: 233,719,006
Super Micro Computer
SMCI • Vol: 68,465,534
Enphase Energy
ENPH • Vol: 13,978,376

Top Losing Stocks

Accenture
ACN • Vol: 41,744,333
EPAM Systems
EPAM • Vol: 5,636,587
Cognizant
CTSH • Vol: 61,311,400
Coterra Energy
CTRA • Vol: 73,319,495
Kroger
KR • Vol: 26,704,230