In pre - market trading in the United States, shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) took a significant hit, plummeting nearly 9% to trade at $20.93 per share.
When examining the company's financial performance for the fourth quarter, while revenue reached $9.68 billion, marking a 14% increase compared to the same period last year, it still fell short of the $9.9 billion that analysts had anticipated. On the earnings front, adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.62, slightly outperforming the analysts' projected figure of $0.58.
However, the real disappointment for investors stemmed from HPE's new AI server orders. These orders, valued at $2 billion, did not meet market expectations. Looking ahead, HPE has issued guidance for the quarter ending in January next year. The company anticipates revenue to range between $9 billion and $9.4 billion, and adjusted earnings per share to fall within the $0.57 - $0.61 range. Both these projections are below the average expectations set by analysts.