HP Will Have a Tough Quarter According to Its CEO

Sites include HP.com . Published on May 18th, 2011. Written by Debbie Parker.

HP CEO Leo Apotheker stated that the company’s preparing for tough third quarter. He urged top executives to minimize hiring and be budget conscious. This is according to an email sent by the CEO to his deputies.

In the email, Apotheker added that the company didn’t meet the forecast for the second quarter of this year. He blamed it on sluggish demands for consumer products and services. The company will continue to feel the pressure and job cuts might happen in the near future.

HP stocks fell 61 cents to $39.80 in the New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company is set to report its second quarter earnings Tuesday and is expected to announce profit excluding costs of $1.21 a share on sales of $31.5 billion.

Hewlett Packard relied on home PC consumers, which left the company in a slump when the demand decreased. It services unit is acquiring businesses so that the company can take advantage of the move to cloud computing.

Apotheker wants HP to focus on higher margin businesses that include servers, software and storage computers so that it would lessen the dependence on desktop PCs. Executives of the company are now on the re-planning process so that it would reflect the new state of the market and the company’s position.