NEW YORK, May 22, 2026, 12:03 EDT
HP Inc. shares gained over 15% Friday, beating the wider U.S. market as traders bought into computer hardware stocks ahead of the company’s fiscal Q2 earnings due next week.
HP was up 15.5% at $25.29 as of 12:03 p.m. in New York, with trading underway. That had the stock heading for a sixth day of gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both traded less than 1% higher around the same time, so HP outpaced the main indexes.
HP is set to report on May 27, and shares have moved up ahead of the results. Investors will be watching to see if better PC demand is enough to make up for pricier memory chips. Memory chips keep computer data, and when their prices rise, profit margins can take a hit.
HP is set to go over its results for the quarter ended April 30 after the bell on Wednesday, May 27, at 5:30 p.m. ET. Back in February, the company gave a forecast for fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings per share in a range of 70 cents to 76 cents, which leaves out certain items.
Dell Technologies jumped 16.7% and Hewlett Packard Enterprise was up 9.7%, as hardware stocks stood out as some of the top movers. The group’s rally goes beyond HP. The gains signal investors are back to buying into enterprise hardware, servers and PCs after worries about higher component costs earlier this year.
Morgan Stanley kept its cautious view. Analyst Erik Woodring said hardware investors may be “missing ’the forest through the trees’.” He pointed to risks from pull-forward demand, memory price inflation, supply shortages and wider macro pressures that could hit margins and earnings later this year. Pull-forward refers to customers buying ahead of schedule, usually to dodge price hikes. Investing.com UK
Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan kept a Sell on HP, holding the $16 target. Mohan sees headwinds from higher memory prices, a CEO change and what he calls mixed PC trends. He said HP could end up guiding to the bottom of its prior range.
Some see less risk, but there’s little outright optimism. JPMorgan’s Samik Chatterjee bumped up his target on HP to $22 from $19 last week and held his Neutral rating, pointing to fewer memory worries for IT hardware. The new target is still under where HP was trading midday Friday.
HP’s last earnings update had something for both bulls and bears. Fiscal Q1 revenue came in at $14.4 billion, up 6.9%. Personal Systems was up 11%, but Printing dropped 2%. Interim CEO Bruce Broussard mentioned “continued momentum in AI PCs,” with CFO Karen Parkhill keeping the outlook but warning results should be toward the low end because of “increasing memory costs.” HP
Leadership still an open question at HP. The company tapped board member Bruce Broussard as interim CEO on Feb. 3 after Enrique Lores exited his roles as president and CEO for a new professional opportunity. HP said it reaffirmed its Q1 and fiscal 2026 outlook at the time.
Friday’s trading set a higher hurdle. If HP offers weaker fiscal 2026 guidance, continues to lose PC share, or can’t push through higher memory costs, some of the recent gains could unwind. Bank of America noted early numbers show HP is losing share in both U.S. and global PC markets, while demand overall is steady.
Traders are leaning into the earnings setup for now, but not the results. HP has more to prove on PC demand—whether the rebound is real and can support profits as memory costs rise.
