HP Stock Tumbles While Dell Stock Climbs After Earnings. Here’s What Happened.

Dell stock was climbing and HP stock was falling after earnings. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg)

Key Points

• Dell’s shares rose 5.8% to $133.18, while HP’s stock dropped 2.6% to $23.73, despite HP beating earnings and revenue estimates.
• HP announced it would cut 4,000 to 6,00i0 jobs and lowered its full fiscal year earnings guidance because of rising memory costs.
• Analysts attribute Dell’s positive outlook to its effective supply chain management, mitigating the impact of increasing memory chip costs.

Shares of computer makers Dell Technologies and HP Inc. were going in two different directions on Wednesday. Wall Street celebrated Dell’s outlook but was concerned about HP’s as both companies deal with rising memory costs.

Both Dell and HP reported their latest financial results after the stock market closed on Tuesday. Dell’s third-quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates, but revenue came in short of expectations. HP, on the other hand, posted both stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Despite this, shares of Dell were rising 5.8% to $133.18, while HP stock dropped 2.6% to $23.73. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up more than 1%.

Even though top and bottom line results for HP’s last quarter beat estimates, earnings guidance for the full fiscal year was a disappointment as costs increase because of rising demand for memory that supports AI.

“For the second half of the year, we expect Personal Systems margins to be impacted, therefore, we are taking a prudent approach to our guide while implementing aggressive actions to mitigate this,” HP CEO Enrique Lores said on the earnings call Tuesday night.

HP also announced that it was cutting between 4,000 to 6,000 jobs.

Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani lowered his price target for HP to $25 from $29 while maintaining an In Line rating on the stock. He wrote in a note on Wednesday that HP’s guidance “reflects more significant/material memory cost headwinds vs. peers (Lenovo, DELL).”

Other analysts agree.

“This was supposed to be a disaster due to components. It wasn’t and Dell should be rewarded,” Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes wrote on Wednesday. He added that while memory prices are surging, “Dell has expertise working with the supply chain and expects to recover most of the hit from increased prices and other adjustments.”

Reitzes rates Dell as a Buy with a $200 price target.

Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold raised his price target on Dell to $166 from $161 on Tuesday night and maintained an Outperform rating on the stock.

“Dell’s solid execution and supply chain management enabled it to deliver upside to margin, countering bearish sentiment regarding the pressure from increasing memory chip costs,” Leopold wrote.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com