Earnings Analysis for HPQ (Last 3 years)

Revenue Analysis:

Total and Operating Revenue: HPQ’s total revenue has shown slight fluctuation over the past four earnings periods, ranging from a high of $13.817 billion in 2023-10-31 to a low of $12.913 billion in 2023-04-30. However, the operating revenue has remained consistent as it equates to total revenue, indicating the majority of revenue comes from regular business operations.

Gross Profit Margins: The gross profit margin slightly fluctuated from $2.929 billion in 2023-04-30 to $2.885 billion in 2024-01-31. This suggests a stable profitability in core operations over the period, though slight variations could indicate changing costs of goods sold or sales volumes.

Cost Management:

Cost of Revenue: The cost of revenue ranged from $9.856 billion to $10.297 billion across the analyzed periods, indicating significant operational expenses relative to revenue generation. This suggests a high cost of production or sales costs.

Operating Expense: Operating expenses showed a trend of decrease from $1.894 billion in 2023-04-30 to $1.863 billion in 2024-01-31 indicating some level of cost control or efficiency improvements in operations.

Total Expenses: Overall expenses decreased from $11.878 billion in 2023-04-30 to $12.16 billion in 2024-01-31, reflecting a controllable management in operational costs over the quarters.

Profitability Analysis:

EBITDA: EBITDA showed a mixed trend peaking at $1.32 billion in 2023-10-31 before decreasing to $1.204 billion by 2024-01-31, which implies variable profitability.

Operating Income: Operating Income varied from $752 million to $1.025 billion showing that while revenue could be maintained, the cost management varies widely thereby affecting operating profits.

Pretax Income: Pretax income saw an increase over the period analyzed from $602 million to $793 million, a positive sign of earnings before tax liability consideration.

Net Income: Similar to pretax income, net income showed growth from $1.066 billion in 2023-04-30 to $622 million in 2024-01-31, highlighting increased bottom-line profitability.

Cash Flow Indicators:

Reconciled Depreciation: Ranging from $205 million to $212 million, depreciation costs were fairly stable suggesting regular re-investment into tangible assets.

Interest Expense: Interest expense remained stable around $116 million to $153 million, indicating consistent borrowing cost pressures amidst their financing activities.

Taxation:

Tax Rate: The tax rate fluctuated slightly but stayed near the 20% mark. It shows a fairly constant tax liability relative to profits.

Tax Provision: Variability in provisions from negative values possibly due to deferred tax assets and credits at $-122 million to positive $170 million shows volatile tax application over periods.

Tax Effect of Unusual Items: Saw a general decrease which affected the tax obligations minimally ranging from negative impacts to slight positive recovery.

Shareholder Metrics:

Diluted and Basic EPS: Earnings per share indicated fluctuating profitability with values ranging between $0.62 and $1.07 for diluted EPS which reflects directly on shareholder value percept.

Average Shares: Average diluted shares were around 1 billion, showing stable equity dilution over the periods.

Net Income Available to Common Stockholders: This consistently matched net income figures suggesting all net earnings were assigned to common stakeholders.

Conclusion:

HPQ has demonstrated relatively stable revenue streams but with variable cost management and profitability. Efforts should be continued towards enhancing cost efficiency and maintaining stable revenue growth. Stakeholders should appreciate the gradual improvement in bottom-line profitability and consider the impacts of taxation and operating costs as key areas for further strategic focus.