On The Fly: What to watch in HP Inc.'s earnings report

HP Inc. (HPQ) is scheduled to report results of its fiscal fourth quarter after the market close on November 21, with a conference call scheduled for 5:30 pm ET. What to watch for: 1. Q EPS CONSENSUS UNCHANGED: Along with its last report, HP Inc. guided for Q4 earnings per share in the range of 42c-45c. Analysts at the time expected the company to report Q4 EPS of 44c, and that figure remains unchanged, according to First Call. In addition, HP Inc. also updated its fiscal 2017 EPS guidance last quarter, tightening its view to $1.63-$1.66 from $1.59-$1.66. At the time, analysts expected the company to report FY17 EPS of $1.64, but that figure has since risen marginally to $1.65. 2. 3D PRINTING: At its analyst day in mid-October, HP Inc. announced that it plans to sell 3D printers that make metal objects, an expansion from the company's existing 3D printers that produce plastic-based products. Chief executive officer Dion Weisler did not disclose the price of the printers or when they would launch, but noted that the company would reveal more information in 2018. Commenting on the move, Citi analyst Kenneth Wong said that the new printing systems will put pressure on other 3D printing stocks, including Stratasys (SSYS), 3D Systems (DDD), and voxeljet (VJET). Needham analyst James Ricchiuti echoed that sentiment, saying that HP Inc's plans to enter the metals 3D printing market in 2018 makes other 3D printing stocks potentially vulnerable to disruption. Separately, the company announced in early September that it is partnering with Siemens (SIEGY) to accelerate 3D printing for industrial production through the creation of a new HP-certified Additive Manufacturing software module from Siemens. 3. PC SHIPMENTS: Global personal computer shipments totaled 67M units in the third quarter, marking a 3.6% decline from the same quarter of the previous year, according to preliminary results by Gartner released in early October. Despite the overall industry declines, HP Inc. surged to the top spot in terms of worldwide PC shipment market share with 21.8% in Q3, a 4.4% increase from Q3 of 2016. Notably, the company said in its Q3 earnings conference call that it expects PC revenue growth for Q4 to be "less than normal" sequentially.