HP quarterly earnings highlight impact of global semiconductor shortage
Much like Dell, HP has benefited from the pandemic era’s emphasis on PCs. Sales figures are massive as ever, though the pandemic is also being blamed for stopping revenue from being as high as analysts expect it to be.
HP underperformed relative to analysts’ expectations, based on its Q3 2021 earnings results. Though revenue was up by 7%, equalling $15.3 billion, that figure fell short of analysts’ expectations of $15.9 billion (via Bloomberg).
During the company’s Q3 2021 earnings call, HP CEO Enrique Lores highlighted one potential cause of the company’s inability to maximize potential during the quarter. His remarks can be read by way of The Motley Fool’s earnings call transcript.
“[…] We continue to ship as much product as we can while navigating a complex operational environment,” Lores said. “We are managing through component shortages. COVID-related factory lockdowns in Southeast Asia and congested ports and transportation disruptions. Even under these conditions, we delivered solid financial results.”
However, Lores also acknowledged HP fell short. “[Personal Systems] revenue was less [than] we expected primarily because of our supply chain constraints. We expect industrywide supply shortages, particularly in ICs to continue into 2022.”
As has become a recurring pattern, chip shortages have been linked with companies being unable to maximize sales even though the demand is there. Dell’s strong quarter also wasn’t free from the looming specter of supply chain issues, with the company expecting such limitations to continue for the foreseeable future, as reported by Bloomberg.
The same warnings were echoed by Microsoft in its earnings back in July for Surface.
The point is clear: No matter the company, expect shortages on the best Windows laptops, best gaming desktop PCs, and more, at the very least through 2022.
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