HPQ Beats Q2 Estimates But Lowers FY26 Guidance — Stock Reverses Course To Drop After-Hours

• HPQ returned $374 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks during the quarter.
• Personal systems growth was led by commercial demand, while printing revenue remained flat at $4.2 billion.
• HP guided Q3 and full-year EPS above consensus and projected up to $3 billion in free cash flow for fiscal 2026.

HP Inc (HPQ) reported its second-quarter earnings after Wednesday’s closing bell, beating expectations for both revenue and profit. However, the company lowered its full-year outlook compared to its guidance shared in the first quarter.

In Q1, HP had projected fiscal 2026 GAAP diluted earnings per share in the range of $2.47 to $2.77. In its Q2 update, the company revised this estimate downward to a range of $2.15 to $2.45.

HPQ shares initially rose about 11% in after-hours trading following the earnings release, but later pared the gains and were down around 0.20% in extended trading at the time of writing.

HPQ Beats Estimates On Revenue And Earnings

HP reported second-quarter revenue of $14.41 billion, up 9% year over year and above estimates of $14.07 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.86, also beating estimates of $0.72 for the quarter ended April 30.

Consumer personal systems (PS) revenue rose 10%, while commercial PS revenue increased 14%. Printing revenue stood at $4.2 billion, flat year over year, with an 18.3% operating margin.

The company returned $374 million to shareholders during the second quarter through dividends and share buybacks, HP said in its earnings release.

“During the second quarter, we continued executing our future of work strategy through intelligent devices, edge AI and connected experiences while navigating rising commodity costs,” said Bruce Broussard, Interim CEO, HP Inc.

Broussard added, “We introduced innovations across AI PCs, Z workstations, AI-powered print, and HP IQ that simplify work and improve productivity. These reflect our progress in building intelligent devices and services that capture the value of AI at the edge and support long-term growth.” 

HPQ Sets Q3 EPS Outlook Above Estimates

For fiscal 2026 Q3, HP expects GAAP diluted EPS in the range of $0.47 to $0.63 and non-GAAP diluted EPS between $0.61 and $0.71, exceeding consensus estimates of $0.63.

For full-year fiscal 2026, HP updated its non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance to a range of $2.90 to $3.10, slightly above the consensus estimate of $2.89. However, this is lower than its earlier Q1 guidance of $2.90 to $3.20.

The company also forecast free cash flow of $2.8 billion to $3.0 billion for the year.

Karen Parkhill, CFO, said, “With two solid quarters behind us, we are executing with discipline in a dynamic environment and are strengthening our outlook for the fiscal year to reflect this.”

What Stocktwits Retail Sentiment Says About HPQ Stock

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for HP was “extremely bullish,” remaining unchanged in the past 24 hours. Message volume rose to “extremely high” levels from “high” a day earlier.

HPQ stock has gained nearly 10% year-to-date.

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