HP's $1B Cost-Cutting Bet: 6,000 Jobs Gone, AI Gets the Budget

HP just dropped a bombshell: slashing up to 6,000 employees globally under the “Fiscal 2026 Plan.” Here’s the play—the printer giant is banking on AI and automation to justify the cuts, promising $1 billion in run-rate savings by end of fiscal 2028.

The Numbers:

• Restructuring cost: ~$650M (mostly upfront in FY2026: $250M)
• Expected EPS (FY26 Q1): $0.58-$0.66 (beat: analysts expect $0.78)
• Full-year FY2026 EPS guidance: $2.47-$2.77 (vs. $3.33 analyst consensus)
• Cash dividend holding steady at $0.30/share

Market Reaction: HPQ tanked overnight—$24.32 close, then dropped another 4.4% in after-hours to $23.25. Wall Street clearly wasn’t thrilled about missing Q1 expectations.

Translation: HP is betting its restructuring—cutting headcount while pouring into AI/innovation—will unlock efficiency. But the EPS guidance miss signals the near-term pain outweighs investor optimism. Classic playbook: short-term bloodbath for long-term upside. The stock getting rekt overnight is the market saying “show me the $1B savings first.”