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Hewlett-Packard NYSE:HPQ Reports, Q-4 loss on Higher Input Cost

Hewlett-Packard Co. reported a F-Q-4 loss Tuesday morning on weaker revenue and higher costs plus a huge write-down tied to its acquisition of search software developer Autonomy Corp. last year.

Shares of H-P is off 9.3% to 12.06 in premarket trading Tuesday as revenue fell short of views. The stock has fallen 52% over the past year.

H-P is in the midst of a multi-year turnaround as the personal-computer market faces growing pressure from mobile devices, intense price competition and economic uncertainty in emerging markets.

H-P faces falling interest in printers among consumers, who have shifted from relying on paper to using their mobile devices. Servers have seen their prices fall along with desktop and laptop computers on reduced margins.

In March, the company unveiled a sweeping reorganization plan that would fold its once-dominant printing business into its PC-making personal systems group and centralize many other functions. It later disclosed plans to lay off 27,000 of its workers. Though the company insists its computer, software, services and printer businesses can be reinvigorated, it has said it expects revenue for the current fiscal year to fall in each of its largest businesses.

CEO Meg Whitman said Tuesday that “F-Y 2012 was the 1st year in a multiyear journey to turn HP around.” She added that the company is “starting to see progress in key areas, such as new product releases and customer wins.”

For the Quarter, the company recorded a write-down of $8.8-B relating to the Autonomy business within its software segment. H-P said the majority of the charge is “linked to serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations” at Autonomy that occurred prior to H-P’s acquisition of the firm.

For the period ended 31 October, H-P reported a loss of $6.9-M, or 3.49 a share, versus a year-ago profit of $239-M, or 0.12 a share. The year-earlier period included $885-M of charges tied to H-P’s decision to wind down its webOS device business following the acquisition of Palm Inc.

Excluding one-time impacts, per-earnings edged down to $1.16 from 1.17. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected 1.14 a share.

Revenue sank 6.5%, or 4% adjusting for currency impacts, to $30-B. Analysts had expected $30.43-B. The latest Quarter marks H-P’s 5th consecutive quarter of falling sales.

The company’s operating margin swung to negative 21.7% from positive 2.5% a year ago. Total costs and expenses rose16%.

H-P said revenue from its personal systems unit was down 14% as commercial revenue decreased 13%, and consumer revenue declined 16%.

Revenue from the company’s services segment fell about 6%, while revenue in its enterprise, servers, storage and networking segment dropped about 9%. Sales in the printing business fell about 5%. A bright spot was software revenue, which grew 14%.