Earnings Preview for Hewlett Packard (HPQ, DELL, CSCO, ORCL, AAPL, GOOG)

Hewlett Packard

is expected to announce its Q1 earnings report on Tuesday, May 17, after the markets close. Analysts are expecting earnings per share to reach $1.21, or 11% higher than in the same period last year. Revenues should stand at $31.54 billion, or 2.2% above the value recorded in Q1 2010. Hewlett Packard Company is a provider of products, technologies, software, solutions and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors. Looking ahead, both earnings per share and revenues are expected to increase at an accelerated pace. For the upcoming quarter, analysts predict earnings of $1.24 per share, or 14.8% higher than in Q2 2010. For the whole year, earnings per share is projected to stand at $5.23, an increase of 14.4% on 2010. Q2 revenues should be $31.81 billion, or 3.5% above the value recorded in the same quarter last year. For the whole year, analysts expect revenues to be $130.29 billion, a rise of 3.4% year-over-year. Hewlett Packard warned of rough times ahead, however. It has pushed its earnings results schedule up a full day after reports

had warned of a tough July quarter and ordered HP staff to maintain an iron grip on costs. HP announced its new release date in a late Monday statement without offering a reason. Coincidence or not, Hewlett Packard is now expected to announce its earnings results on the same day as its arch-rival Dell

. In February, Hewlett Packard trimmed its earnings forecast for the year, following sluggish customer PC sales. HP is also under pressure from rivals like Cisco

and Oracle

, which are entering Hewlett Packard's key businesses. Investors will keep a close eye on performance of HP TouchPad Tablet, which is trying to unsettle market leaders – Apple's

iPad and Google's

Android. In spite of Hewlett Packard's earnings warnings, rating agencies are very optimistic about the company's long term outlook. At the moment, 28 rating agencies have a Buy or Strong Buy on Hewlett Packard's shares. Its shares are not faring really well recently, however. On Monday, its shares lost 1.51% to close the day at $39.80. Investors seem worried by Hewlett Packard's decision to rush its earnings report, as its shares continued to shed value in today's pre-trading session. At the moment, Hewlett Packard is trading at $38, down 4.52% on yesterday's close. Over the last 90 days, its shares lost massive 18.76%.