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    How Investors May Respond To HP (HPQ) Naming A New CEO

    Simply Wall St·11/07/2026 04:39:57
    Listen to the news
    • HP Inc. has appointed former GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley as CEO, effective January 4, 2027, and expanded its board from 12 to 13 directors to accommodate her appointment, while shifting interim CEO Bruce Broussard to board chair.
    • Walmsley brings large scale operating experience and governance exposure from GSK and Microsoft, which could influence how HP prioritizes AI PCs, premium hardware and recurring services within its broader personal systems and print portfolio.
    • We will now look at how HP's investment narrative is affected by Emma Walmsley taking the CEO role and board seat.

    Scan how leadership plays into future returns by sizing up HP against a hand picked 52 AI infrastructure stocks that are building the backbone for AI PCs and enterprise computing.

    HP Investment Narrative Recap

    To own HP, you need to believe the shift toward AI capable and premium PCs, richer print categories and service led offerings can keep cash generation relatively steady even if unit volumes stay under pressure. The main near term swing factor is execution on AI PCs and recurring services, where customer adoption and pricing discipline will probably matter more than pure shipment growth.

    The CEO transition and bylaw change look more like governance housekeeping than a change to the immediate business drivers. The biggest current risk for HP remains operational, not boardroom related. If higher input costs, competitive pricing or slower AI PC demand occur at the same time, Personal Systems and Print margins could prove more fragile than hoped.

    The most relevant recent development alongside the CEO news is HP’s push into digital employee experience through its Workforce Experience Platform, which now supports more than 5,000 organizations and monitors millions of devices. This sits directly on top of the installed PC base and ties into the effort to earn more predictable, service driven gross profit.

    If HP can keep attaching platforms like WXP to commercial PCs and Device as a Service contracts, then the business has a clearer path to recurring revenue and more stable margins, which many investors already focus on as a key catalyst. The flip side is execution risk. Underwhelming customer uptake or weaker pricing for these services could limit the offset to any softness in traditional hardware and print supplies.

    What Emma Walmsley Inherits at HP

    By the time Emma Walmsley takes charge of HP in early 2027, the investment story already sketched out by analysts is fairly specific. The central question is whether a relatively modest revenue path and measured earnings uplift can support the current share price while the mix tilts toward AI PCs, richer services and higher value print categories.

    Consensus assumptions today are not built on fast expansion. Analysts are working off HP's current annual earnings base of about US$2.5b and are pencilling in a move to US$3.0b by 2029. That is an increase of roughly US$0.5b in profit, helped by an expected margin shift from 4.1% to 4.7% over roughly three years rather than a surge in units shipped.

    On the top line, the sell side is modelling revenue growth of about 2.2% each year over the coming three years. That pace aligns with a scenario where HP leans on better mix and higher value attachments on PCs and print instead of counting on a rebound in basic hardware demand. It sets a relatively narrow corridor for Walmsley to work within, since outsized swings in either direction would challenge those carefully stepped assumptions.

    Underneath those forecasts sits a capital allocation angle that matters for shareholders watching Walmsley's future decisions. Analysts currently expect HP to shrink its share count by about 1.76% a year over the next three years, pointing to continued buybacks. That supports earnings per share even when overall earnings are only edging higher and shapes how any re-rating in the stock could play out if the plan holds.

    Valuation expectations already tie these fundamentals together. Analyst models point to HP generating about US$63.2b in revenue and US$3.0b in earnings by 2029, with the stock valued on a P/E of 10.3x those earnings versus about 11.4x today. That implies the market would be paying a slightly lower multiple on a slightly larger earnings base, a profile that asks management to deliver steadier, higher quality cash flows rather than chase aggressive expansion.

    HP's narrative projects revenue of about US$63.2b and earnings of roughly US$3.0b by 2029. This setup leans on analysts assuming 2.2% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of around US$0.5b from about US$2.5b today.

    Those valuation anchors also sit against a current consensus price target of US$27.31, which is about 13% below the recent share price of US$30.85 as of early November 2026. Even with analysts modelling better margins and higher earnings, that discount signals a view that expectations baked into the stock already run ahead of the base case fundamentals. Walmsley steps into this perception gap just as investors are weighing how much credit to give HP for AI PCs, services and cost programs.

    The P/E assumptions frame the governance shift in a practical way for investors. If HP is trading on 11.4x earnings today while analysts think 10.3x is the right multiple for the 2029 profit stream, the implied message is that execution on AI PCs, recurring services and cost savings needs to be good simply to justify a slightly lower valuation multiple. For a new chief executive, that is less about rewriting the strategy and more about proving that this measured earnings path is realistic.

    Walmsley's experience at GSK and on Microsoft's board brings a background in large scale operations, long dated R&D bets and deeply entrenched enterprise relationships. HP shareholders watching the AI PC rollout and services push can treat this as a test of whether those skills convert into tighter capital discipline, sharper product focus and clearer accountability for hitting the revenue and earnings milestones that underpin the current analyst models.

    Uncover why HP's fair value indicates a 4% potential downside to its current price, which leaves little room for error.

    NYSE:HPQ 1-Year Stock Price Chart
    NYSE:HPQ 1-Year Stock Price Chart

    Exploring Other Perspectives

    Some of the most bearish HP analysts focus on a different risk. They worry that PC units could keep sliding and that Print stays weak, which is why they were modelling revenue of about US$56.0b and earnings of roughly US$2.7b by 2029 before this CEO news. That view is far more cautious than consensus and shows how wide opinion can run. Use this leadership change as a prompt to compare those pre news forecasts, and then decide which version of HP’s future feels closer to your own expectations.

    Explore 5 other HP fair value estimates, including one that suggests as much as 33% downside from the current price!

    The Verdict Is Yours

    Don't just follow the ticker. Dig into the data and build a conviction that's truly your own.

    Looking For More HP Investment Ideas?

    If this CEO change has you reassessing HP, it can help to widen the field and compare the stock against other businesses with different risk and income profiles. Use the Simply Wall St Screener to line up alternatives and see where HP really fits in your portfolio.