Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ): The Numbers You Need To See

Perhaps the most intriguing prospects for HP are far down the road. Earlier this month, activist investor Carl Icahn, who is fighting hard to put together a potential buyout of HP rival Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) , said he believed a Dell-HP merger would make sense for both companies at some point in the future. Given the smack talk between the two companies recently, a merger would inevitably involve a lot of corporate culture shock. More importantly, considering the companies’ strengths in such similar areas, it’s unclear whether the move would help HP broaden its business into more lucrative areas.

In HP’s report, look closely for a long-range progress report from CEO Meg Whitman on the direction the company is likely to take. Given so many avenues for potential growth, it’s essential that HP chooses the right path if its turnaround story is to have a happy ending.

The article How Hewlett-Packard Is Keeping Its Comeback on Track originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter @DanCaplinger. The Motley Fool owns shares of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM).

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