The ticker tape doesn't lie, but it sure can be a buzzkill. If you’ve been watching the hp stock price today, you’ve likely seen a sea of red that would make a bull nervous.
As of the market close on Friday, January 16, 2026, HP Inc. (HPQ) sat at $20.37. That’s a drop of about 1.16% on the day. Not a total collapse, sure. But when you zoom out, the picture gets a bit grittier. Over the last month, the stock has slid roughly 17%. It's basically knocking on the door of its 52-week low of $19.98.
Honestly, the "vibe" around the PC market right now is heavy. You’ve got analysts at heavyweights like Barclays and Goldman Sachs cooling on the name, and the stock is definitely feeling the heat. But there is a massive gap between the market's current mood and what the fundamental math says.
HPQ Stock Price Today: The Street’s New Skepticism
Wall Street is currently obsessed with "secular pressures." That’s just a fancy way of saying they think the glory days of everyone buying a new laptop every two years are over.
On January 16, 2026, Barclays analyst Ravikash Bakolia hit the "downgrade" button, moving HP to Underweight. They even slashed the price target from $24 down to $18. Why? They’re worried about a memory cycle that's getting expensive and a Windows 11 refresh that is mostly "done" in the U.S. markets.
Basically, the bear case is this:
- The big wave of AI PC buying hasn't fully materialized yet.
- Printing revenue—HP’s old reliable cash cow—dropped 4% in the last quarter.
- High memory costs are eating into margins.
It's a tough pill to swallow. Just a few days earlier, Goldman Sachs also jumped in with a Sell rating. They’re looking at 2026 and 2027 and seeing a lot of "downside" to what other analysts are hoping for. If you're holding the bag right now, it feels like everyone is suddenly leaving the party.
The Underdog Math: Is HP Actually "Dirt Cheap"?
Here is where things get weird. While the stock price is sinking, the valuation is starting to look like a clearance rack at a thrift store.
Think about this. HP is currently trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of about 7.4x. Compare that to the rest of the tech industry, which is averaging somewhere north of 22x. Even some of HP’s direct peers are trading at multiples three or four times higher.
Some valuation models, like the ones from Simply Wall St, suggest an "intrinsic value" closer to $45. That’s a 54% discount. Now, will it ever actually hit $45? Maybe not tomorrow. But it highlights just how much fear is baked into the current hp stock price today.
The Dividend Safety Net
If you're a "buy and hold" type, the dividend is the only thing keeping the lights on. HP just paid out its latest dividend of $0.30 per share on January 2.
- Current Yield: At $20.37, that puts the yield at a staggering 5.82%.
- Payout Ratio: They are only using about 37% of their earnings to pay that dividend.
- Growth: They’ve been growing this payout for 15 years straight.
That is a serious yield for a legacy tech company. It’s the kind of return that usually belongs to "boring" utility companies, not the people making the laptop you’re probably using right now.
What Happened to the Warren Buffett Connection?
A lot of retail investors jumped into HP a couple of years ago because Berkshire Hathaway took a massive stake. People thought, "If it's good enough for the Oracle of Omaha, it's good enough for me."
Well, things change. As of early 2026, the landscape at Berkshire has shifted. Warren Buffett officially stepped down as CEO on January 1, handing the keys to Greg Abel. While Berkshire still holds a lot of blue-chip names, they’ve been aggressively paring back tech lately. They’ve sold off a huge chunk of Apple and have been trimming Bank of America for five quarters straight.
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HP isn't the "Buffett darling" it once was. The momentum has shifted toward companies like Alphabet and Amazon, which are proving they can turn AI into actual cash flow faster than a hardware maker can.
Practical Insights for the Week Ahead
If you are looking at your brokerage account and wondering whether to cut bait or double down, here is the reality of the situation.
The next big "moment" for this stock won't happen until February 26, 2026. That’s when HP is estimated to drop its Q1 fiscal 2026 earnings. Until then, we’re likely going to see a lot of "sideways" movement or slow bleeding as the market digests these analyst downgrades.
Watch the $19.98 level. That’s the 52-week low. If it breaks below that, we could see a technical slide toward $18, which is where Barclays thinks it belongs. However, if the stock holds that support, the 5.8% dividend yield might finally start looking too juicy for institutional "value" hunters to ignore.
Don't ignore the cash flow. Despite the revenue dips, HP still generated $2.9 billion in free cash flow in fiscal 2025. They are returning almost all of that to shareholders. It’s a "show me the money" stock in a market that is currently obsessed with "show me the AI."
Actionable Steps:
- Check your exposure: If HP makes up more than 5% of your portfolio, the current volatility is going to hurt.
- Set a "Price Alert": Set a notification for $19.50. If it hits that, the "Sell" thesis from the big banks is winning.
- Ignore the "AI PC" hype for now: Wait for actual sales data in the February report before betting on a hardware "super-cycle." The consumer is still pinched, and laptops are a "want," not a "need," for many right now.
- Reinvest the dividends: If you're staying in, make sure your DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) is turned on. Buying more shares at these $20 prices with "free" dividend money is the only way to lower your cost basis effectively.