When Hewlett-Packard Co.released another quarter of falling revenue plus a $5 billion write-off over a huge acquisition this week, its stock took an unsurprising dip to its lowest point since the fall of 2002.
But this morning it had gained a dime or so back as investors pondered the meaning of it all.
One way to look at things is that HP might have only suffered a $2 billion loss in the quarter instead of $7 billion had it not been forced to write off almost half the value it paid for British software company Autonomy last year.
Through that lens HP’s restructuring isn’t going too badly, reflecting the confidence in CEO Meg Whitman’s voice to financial analysts.