Why HP (HPQ) Stock Is Trading Lower Today

What Happened?

Shares of personal computing and printing company HP (NYSE:HPQ) fell 1.7% in the morning session after Morgan Stanley turned more cautious on the U.S. IT hardware sector and lowered its price target on the company's stock. 

The investment bank cut its view on the North American IT Hardware industry to “cautious” from “in-line,” warning of a potential 'perfect storm.' The analysts pointed to slowing demand from businesses, rising costs for components, and high stock valuations as reasons for the more defensive stance. 

Specifically for HP, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring kept an "Underweight" rating on the stock but cut the price target by 10% from $20.00 to $18.00. The negative sentiment impacted the broader sector, with shares of Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise also falling.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

HP’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 11 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 8 months ago when the stock dropped 8.2% on the news that the company reported weak first-quarter 2025 results: its EPS and EBITDA missed, and it lowered its full-year EPS guidance, pointing to an uncertain macro backdrop and uneven recovery in printing and consumer tech spending. On the other hand, HP narrowly topped analysts' revenue expectations. Still, this was a softer quarter.

HP is down 10% since the beginning of the year, and at $19.91 per share, it is trading 42.7% below its 52-week high of $34.72 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of HP’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $789.88.

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