What's Going On With Hewlett Packard Stock After AI-Fueled Earnings?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE shares are trading higher Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results.

The Details: Hewlett Packard Enterprise reported quarterly earnings of 42 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 39 cents by 7.69%.

Quarterly sales clocked in at $7.2 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $6.823 billion by 5.53% and represents growth of 3.26% over sales of $6.973 billion from the same period last year.

Antonio Neri, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, highlighted growth in AI systems orders which more than doubled from the previous quarter. 

"Our deep expertise in designing, manufacturing, and running AI systems at scale fueled growth of cumulative AI systems orders to $4.6 billion, with enterprise AI orders representing more than 15%. HPE's AI advantage, increased HPE GreenLake adoption, and leading infrastructure portfolio, as well as an improved supply chain environment, set us up very well to deliver a strong second half," Neri said. 

Analysts React: Multiple analysts raided price targets on the stock following the print. 

• Morgan Stanley analyst Meta Marshall maintained Hewlett Packard with an Equal-Weight and raised the price target from $19 to $21.
• Wells Fargo maintained its Equal-Weight rating and raised the price target from $19 to $22.
• B of A Securities maintained a Neutral rating and raised the price target from $19 to $22.
• Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini maintained Hewlett Packard with a Neutral and raised the price target from $14 to $20.
• Stifel analyst Matthew Sheerin maintained Hewlett Packard with a Buy and raised the price target from $18 to $22.
• Evercore ISI Group maintained its In-Line rating and raised the price target from $18 to $22.

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HPE Stock Prediction 2024:

Equity research can be a valuable source of information for learning about a company's fundamentals. Analysts create financial models based on the fundamentals and expected future earnings of a company to arrive at a price target and recommendation for the stock.

Shares of Hewlett Packard have an average 1-year price target of $20.88, representing an expected upside of 4.74%.

Because of differences in assumptions, analysts can arrive at very different price targets and recommendations. No analysts have bearish recommendations on Hewlett Packard, while 1 analyst has a bullish rating. The street high price target from Stifel is $22, while the street low from Wells Fargo is $19.

HPE Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Hewlett Packard shares are up 15.1% at $20.25 at the time of publication Wednesday.

Image: Courtesy of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company