HP/HPE's COVID-19 Response: Relief, Resources and Recovery

HPE’s response to COVID-19 is in keeping with a company that promises to “advance the way people live and work.”

Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced its fiscal 2020 first quarter financial results just as COVID-19 was escalating from a rumble to a roar.

HPE’s Antonio Neri

“HPE’s first quarter results demonstrate continued progress against our strategic priorities to shift our company to higher-margin and more recurring revenues against a dynamic market backdrop,” said Antonio Neri, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

HP/HPE’s overall revenue declined for the quarter, primarily due to its compute business, Neri said. But it grew ARR by 19% and “saw profitable growth in key areas of investment,” he added. Those areas include intelligent edge, high-performance compute, hyperconverged infrastructure, big data storage and operational services orders.

That “compute business” is HP Inc., the IT giant’s printer and PC arm. At the time, it was fighting off an attempted hostile takeover that Xerox launched in November.

“We delivered EPS and gross margin improvement, while making important investments for future innovation,” Neri continued. “Faced with continued macro uncertainty, I am confident we are managing our business with discipline and focus. [We are] taking the right actions, and advancing our pivot to deliver unique edge-to-cloud experiences as a service. We believe the combination will drive long-term profitable growth and strong returns on investment.”

Since then, the pandemic has tested “discipline and focus” for the companies. So how did they do? Click through the slide show above for a recap of their COVID-19 response.