Discontent over Hewlett- Packard Co.’s strategic shift has left it cheaper than any technology company in the world, turning the largest computer maker into a potential takeover target.
Hewlett-Packard lost more than $10 billion in market value after announcing it will spin off its personal-computer unit, buy Autonomy Corp. and scrap a 5-month-old plan to put its mobile software on devices.
The 20 percent plunge drove down the valuation of Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP to five times estimated profit, about 70 percent less than the average technology company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Since Leo Apotheker became chief executive in November, HP’s shareholders have lost out as the company fell five times as much as the competition and faced its first decline in profit in more than a decade.
It may now lure buyers looking to break it up and acquire the pieces, according to Solaris Group LLC. The server unit would boost Oracle Corp.’s market share fivefold and help it become the biggest maker of the hardware.
HP’s printer business, which is 70 percent more profitable than the company as a whole, may attract private-equity firms, Fiduciary Trust said.
“The value right now looks extremely attractive,” said Michael Mullaney, who helps manage $9.5 billion at Fiduciary Trust in Boston, including HP shares. “For the right company, it probably would make sense for someone to come in and scoop it up. Someone could come and at least buy pieces of the firm.”
HP “appears to be a company that’s a rudderless ship right now,” Mullaney said.
Hewlett-Packard is exiting the PC business nine years after the acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. vaulted it to the top of the industry.
