Buy H&P, not H-P: Helmerich & Payne, Inc. (HP), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ)

Hewlett-Packard, on the other hand, has been struggling since 2010, its share price falling more than 60% from April 2010 highs.  Net Income fell into the red for 2012, with the company losing $12.5 billion – more money than it has ever made in one year.  According to E*Trade, Hewlett has an EPS growth rate that is less than 88% of peer companies.  All of these factors contributed to Hewlett-Packard’s announcement in May 2012 that they were firing 27,000 employees to cut down on costs.  Even further, and perhaps Packard’s worst misstep yet, Meg Whitman has announced an $8 billion write-down with $5 billion going towards inaccurate financial reports in Autonomy, the company Hewlett bought in 2011.  These inaccuracies contained things such as $200 million in revenues that were improperly recorded.  Ex-Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch has publicly shamed the Hewlett-Packard management, claiming that the write-downs are intended to cover over management’s shortcomings.  Lynch, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, said “H-P is looking for scapegoats, and I’m afraid I’m not looking to be one of those”.  While these negatives are all largely due to problems in Hewlett-Packard’s management and their lack of innovation in an era dominated by tablets and cloud computing, the other HP with which they share an acronym has exceeded all expectations.

Helmerich & Payne is a fantastic investment opportunity into the drilling industry, perfectly poised to capture even more market share and grow their income statement and share price.  But now, how does this relate to the disastrous Dow company Hewlett-Packard?  Simply the name.  If you search for news stories regarding Helmerich & Payne, you may be surprised when you find dozens of articles written about Hewlett-Packard; only the author used the wrong ticker symbol.  Just remember, when you read about your new favorite oil drilling company, ignore the computers!

For more information about Helmerich & Payne, you can access their financial information on their company website hpinc.com under the Investor Relations tab.

The article Buy H&P, not H-P originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jake Pompeo.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.