Is Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) Really on Its Way Back?

Big data continues to be an untapped market for HP. And NetApp can close that gap between HP and rivals like Cisco and Oracle. Likewise, HP has missed out on several opportunities to Cisco by failing to synergize its enterprise server and networking businesses. What’s more, Cisco’s software-defined networking initiatives have become major contributors to Cisco’s recent emergence. And unfortunately, this has come at the expense of HP’s declining enterprise footprint.

Finally, management has failed to address mobile. While Whitman cited a five-year process, that’s an eternity in the stock market. No one knows where mobile is going to be next year, much less five. And the situation is grimmer if you haven’t even started. Even Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) is struggling to find its way back, and it pioneered the mobile revolution. So what does HP, which has no competitive position, think it can do in that time span to excite investors?

What of the stock?
By every measure such as profit margin, revenue growth, earnings growth and a host of other metrics, the stock should be avoided. But the name’s strong and relative to book value, shares seem fairly valued. I don’t see much upside from here until management can realize more value and prove to investors that the company’s brand actually means something again.

The article Is Hewlett-Packard Really on Its Way Back? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Richard Saintvilus.

Fool contributor Richard Saintvilus owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO). The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Oracle.

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