In the latest market close, HP (HPQ) reached $24.18, with a +1.81% movement compared to the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.51%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 2.66%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 2.71%.

Heading into today, shares of the personal computer and printer maker had lost 18.1% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 12.18% and the S&P 500's loss of 8.86% in that time.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of HP in its upcoming release. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.80, marking a 2.44% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $13.26 billion, showing a 3.6% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $3.45 per share and revenue of $54.64 billion, indicating changes of +2.07% and +2.03%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for HP. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 2.76% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. HP is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note HP's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 6.89. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 8.65.

Meanwhile, HPQ's PEG ratio is currently 2.48. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Computer - Micro Computers industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.4.

The Computer - Micro Computers industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 89, this industry ranks in the top 36% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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