Citigroup Inc. (C), Intel Corporation (INTC), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ): Wednesday’s Top Trenders To Watch

Among the thousands of companies publicly traded on the stock markets, there always are several that stand out. Usually it happens due to some events that draw the attention of the masses to these companies. Following the activity of the markets can be tracked easier through watching companies that are on everyone’s radar during the day. In this way, while the S&P 500 started the morning with a 0.12% decline and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid by about 0.24%, the companies within the indices also had a morning with red numbers. Hence, among popular companies on Wednesday, we can mention Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTCand Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ).

Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C)Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s stock increased by about 26.2% since the beginning of the year, sporting a P/E of almost 16. Recently Citigroup came to an agreement approved by a federal judge, according to which the company will pay bondholders about $730 million to settle the suits that Citi covered its exposure to toxic mortgage assets before the recession. Overall, in today’s morning, Citigroup’s stock edged down by 0.98% to about $49 per share.

Tech stocks aren’t doing so good either. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) dropped by about 0.72% to $22.36 per share. Intel’s stock has a year-to-date return of above 8%, while its P/E of around 12 is one of the lowest in the industry of semiconductor manufacturers. At the same time, Intel trails a PEG ratio of about 1 and a forward P/E of 11.31, showing that the company has some value in it. The drop of Intel might be explained by a reduction in the demand for processors, which comes as a result of reduction of the PC market.

Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) started the day by falling by about 0.6% to $25.7 per share, very close to its 52-week low of $25.49 per share. Today Hewlett-Packard Company is expected to release its results for the second quarter with analysts expecting Earnings Per Share at $0.86 on average, with the highest and lowest estimates at $0.89 and $0.78 respectively. Taking into account an overall decline in the PC sales, there should not be any high expectations from Hewlett-Packard Company, however, since PC is not the only segment in which the company operates, the cloud sector and other similar business might show some prospects. So, we have to wait and see if HP will be able to beat or at least match the forecasts. We should also mention that since January 1, the stock of Hewlett-Packard has surged by over 80%, so there’s a potential for profit-taking.

Disclosure: none