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Hewlett Packard sinks on disappointing revenue, profit, and free cash flow guidance for fiscal 2026

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is down about 9% in premarket trading after revealing an outlook at its analyst meeting that came in well below Wall Street’s expectations.

At its Securities Analyst Meeting in New York yesterday, the company revealed that it expected revenue growth of 5% to 10% next year — analysts were expecting ~18%, per Bloomberg data.

HPE also said that earnings per share for FY2026, which runs from next month until October next year, will be $2.20 to $2.40, below analysts’ estimates of $2.41 per share, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, it announced that free cash flow for the year would be between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, again falling short of the $2.41 billion that was expected, per Bloomberg’s data.

The company also said it would be increasing its annual dividend for the year ahead by 10% and added that it’s expecting the free cash flow figure to rise to $3.5 billion by FY2028 — news that failed to drown out the negatives.

As a key player in the computing equipment industry, the company’s tighter-than-expected financials reflect the impact the booming AI industry is having on its margins, as HPE and peers source more expensive AI chips for their servers.

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Oil settles Friday at highest level since start of war

US oil prices moved higher in afternoon trading Friday, sapping strength from the stock market as they posted their highest close since the start of the Iran war.

After another day where the Strait of Hormuz was essentially closed to global tanker traffic, US futures for West Texas Intermediate settled up 3.1% at $98.71 a barrel for an 8.6% weekly gain, per Dow Jones data.

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

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Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

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