With a global economic crisis that has been plaguing the stock market, Hewlett Packard continues to be the market leader in the PC industry, but with tablets entering the picture can it maintain the status quo?
Hailed as the leading company for worldwide PC shipments during the fourth quarter, Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) [Full Research Report](1) While sales have been particularly sluggish, HP has beaten Lenovo and Dell, its closest competitors in the market, by garnering 16.7% of the global market share during the Q4 of 2012. In a report by IDC, HP has also beaten Apple's Mac which was reported to be relatively successful in the US market during the Q4 of 2012.
While investors continue to have uncertainties towards the industry and its market leader, HP is under a five-year process to "reinvent" the brand and to create innovative products that are most inclined to modern technology. "There is a ton of innovation in all of our R&D labs," said HP CEO Meg Whitman.
HP's turnaround plan may actually be of great help to the company by 2016, but the surging trend of tablets may dethrone the company from its seat, and may affect the overall PC market. From an underweight market status to neutral, HP needs to cope with its vulnerability. Being the king of the industry is no reason for its executives to procrastinate as the competition heats up.
IDC reported that HP posted a first year-over-year growth throughout 2012 in Asia. HP's performance in the Pacific is slightly lower than the regional forecast, but better than the overall market. The region is an excellent key player for HP to focus on as they make more investments on research and development. Asia is probably the best performing region, with more performers than decliners that are somewhat resilient to EU and US economies.
Investors are quite bullish about the company today as its shares rallied by 0.68 points or 4.11% to close at $17.21 per share, as of this writing. After its shares declined by 35% over the past 12 months, HP's shares advanced after it was reported that there are potential buyers for the company's Autonomy and EDS units. This came after HP announced the potential disposal off assets that are not significantly contributing to the company's objectives to remain an industry leader.
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