Comments on: HP earnings: 6 lowlights

By: james

james — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 20:12:52 +0000

Having worked for many years at EDS in various management capacities, and being still in touch with many EDS management, I dont believe that HP has a future in the BPO field. I believe that Hurd, among other stupid things he did, bought EDS when it was on the verge of decline. Any company with the bad morale of EDS, which is widespread, where people are working with one eye on finding opportunities elsewhere, where people are putting in the hours to keep their jobs, but not putting in anymore effort than what is required, where there is no trust or expectation of a career, any company run like this doesnt have a future. You need happy customers, you need to create this by having motivated staff. EDS HP is known to have absolutely awful management.

By: Caroline Olsen

Caroline Olsen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:59:39 +0000

Follow… Leo Apotheker!

Respect his choices.
Follow him instead of expecting him to follow you.
- from Leo Apotheker | My Life

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world – the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
-Bernard Shaw

By: Krishna Chodavarapu

Krishna Chodavarapu — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 12:48:24 +0000

Ms. Darrow, you’ve clearly done your homework, listening to the conference call and accurately captured the tone of the call in your piece.

However, I really think its a red herring to start the discussion off with the EDS writedown. Most investors, and really anyone trying to analyze a business should discount writedowns like this. This amounts to a non-cash accounting charge to the ‘carrying’ value of an intangible asset: that is to say, HP wrote down some $50 billion in touchy feel-ey ‘fake’ assets by $8 billion.

I really am saddened to see so much reporting on this entirely irrelevant matter (not just yours). Why not report on their operating cash flows being close to $3 billion, and their free cash flows being close to $2 billion? And while revenues were down 5% overall, why not also report that they were down only 2% in constant currency terms? These metrics are far more indicative of the health of their business. Certainly these metrics aren’t great; but the perception that is created when one reads the ‘really awful news’ that HP ‘logged an $8.9 billion loss — its biggest ever’, is not the “truth”.

Don’t get me wrong; I think the other points are valid and relevant; I just wish the media would spend less time reporting on meaningless accounting writedowns, be it Microsoft or HP.