HP turnaround effort won’t see results till 2014, HP CEO Meg Whitman said at the company’s analyst meeting on Wednesday.
“We believe that 2014 will be the year you will see real recovery and expansion at HP. You should see every business unit recover and grow. Our investments in R&D and IT will begin to kick in. And we will have demonstrated an ability to manage costs in line with revenue,” she said.
Company CFO Cathie Lesjak followed with a very bleak picture for HP’s FY 2013, which starts November 1.
“We expect continued weakness in the macroeconomic environment. We expect year-over-year revenue declines in all segments except software,” Lesjak said.
For FY 2014, revenue fall-off will be in the 11 percent to 13 percent range and operating margins are expected to be in the 0 percent to 3 percent range.
Whitman listed a ton of tactical changes HP is making to cut costs and reduce confusion around HP’s profuse product lines — the company will cut the number laser printer models in half next year for example.
In general, HP is suffering from macroeconomic “headwinds” and years of befuddlement at the top, which Whitman referenced. “My belief is that the single biggest challenge HP has faced is the changes in CEOs. there have been multiple inconsistent plans and executional miscues limiting the speed of recovery,” she said.
Whitman took over from Leo Apotheker in September 2011. Apotheker, who had been brought in to replace Mark Hurd, lasted less than a year
The analyst meeting took its toll on HP stock which was off more 8.44 percent to $ 15.69 at press time.
Stay tuned for updates from the call, which is on-going.
