Stock Futures – HP boosts dividend, CEO calls it ‘signal of the boldness’ in future

HP CEO Enrique Lores on CNBC on Tuesday forecast a vivid future for his firm after it determined to extend the quantity of earnings it shares with stockholders.

The PC maker boosted its quarterly cash dividend by double digits to simply over 19 cents per share, which it introduced as a part of its better-than-expected ends in the ultimate quarter of HP’s 2020 fiscal 12 months.

“You must take this as an indication of the boldness we now have in the way forward for the corporate, growing [the] dividend by 10% in fiscal 12 months ’21, pushed by sturdy momentum we see in our companies in print and private methods,” Lores stated in a “Mad Cash” interview with Jim Cramer.

HP shares have been up greater than 5% in after-hours buying and selling after the corporate posted adjusted earnings of 62 cents per share on income of $15.Three billion, beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations of 52 cents and $14.7 billion, respectively. The quarter was powered by client spending on PCs and printers as People geared up their dwelling workplaces amid the pandemic, and HP’s business enterprise continued to languish.

The corporate stated it paid a cash dividend of $238 million within the fourth quarter.

Shopper revenues grew by 24% throughout the three-month interval ending Oct. 31, whereas business revenues declined by 12%. Whereas pocket book gross sales surged 18% to $7.41 billion, pushed by the work- and learn-from-home financial system, HP’s complete revenues have been down 1% 12 months over 12 months.

After 4 straight quarters of income declines, HP reported $56.four billion in income for the 2020 fiscal 12 months, down 3.6% from about $58.76 billion the 12 months prior.

As for the primary fiscal quarter of 2021, HP is projecting adjusted earnings of 64 cents to 70 cents per share, above the Refinitiv consensus of 54 cents.

Lores is banking on a return in its business enterprise because the nation emerges from the restrictions of the pandemic in 2021.

“What this disaster has proven is that we’re a really resilient firm,” he stated. “We have now a really sturdy client enterprise that’s serving to us now. … When individuals will return to the workplace, our business enterprise will develop once more.”

HP shares rose 2.6% Tuesday, closing at $21.75 per share earlier than the corporate posted earnings. Whereas the stock is up 5.84% 12 months to this point, the share price stays about $2 away from its February excessive earlier than the marketwide meltdown that was sparked by coronavirus fears.