Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) Q2 Earnings Meet Estimates; To Cut More Jobs

The shares of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) closed $31.78 per share, down by 2.28% after the company reported its second quarter financial results for the fiscal 2014.

Financial results

The PC maker reported adjusted earnings of $0.88 per share, which is in line with the consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts. Its revenue declined 1% to $27.3 billion, slightly lower than the $27.4 billion consensus estimate.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) said its operating net cash improved by $1 billion for the ninth consecutive month. Its cash flow from operations for the quarter was $3 billion.

During the quarter, the company returned $1.1 billion to shareholders in the form of dividend and shares buy back.

In a statement, Meg Whitman, chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) said, “I’m pleased to report that HP’s turnaround remains on track. With each passing quarter, HP is improving its systems, structures and core go-to-market capabilities.”

Whitman added that the management is shaping Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) into a more nimble, lower-cost, more customer and partner-centric capable of competing successfully across a rapidly changing information technology (IT) landscape.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) said the sales of its PC segment, its largest source of revenue climbed 7 percent to $8.2 billion while the sales of its printing segment declined 4% to $5.8 billion. 

Outlook

For the third quarter, Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) forecasted that it will be able to generate adjusted earnings in the range of $0.86 to $0.90 per share.

For the full year 2014, the company estimated that it will be able to achieve adjusted earnings in the range of $3.63 to $3.75 per share.

HP to cut additional jobs

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) announced that the previously announced 34,000 jobs that will be eliminated under its multiyear restructuring program will increase. The company said it will cut additional 11,000 up to 16,000 jobs as it continues to reengineer its workforce to become more competitive and meet its goal.

Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy opined, “The layoffs make a lot of sense given they aren’t currently able to drive their services business like they would prefer.”