ACADEMIA

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has announced financial results for the fiscal year 2021 and the fourth quarter, which ended October 31, 2021.

The company's high-performance computer and AI revenue was $1.0 billion in Q4, up 1% from the prior-year period or flat when adjusted for currency, which was below expectations, but the company said it’s on track for growth.

Q4 net revenue of $7.35 billion was up 2% from a year ago, or flat adjusted for constant currency. That was below the $7.38 billion that financial analysts expected.

FY21 net revenue of $27.8 billion, was up 3% from the prior-year period or up 1% when adjusted for currency.

The company has reported fiscal fourth-quarter profits that beat consensus estimates, but the company’s stock lost more than 2% after hours as revenues fell just short of expectations. Shares initially fell nearly 9% but recovered after the company's conference call, in which execs attributed much of the sales weakness to supply chain constraints.

Throughout the call, execs focused on orders rather than sales as evidence that demand is strong, saying the company recorded record orders in its businesses.

“HPE ended the fiscal year 2021 with record demand for our edge-to-cloud portfolio, and we are well-positioned to capitalize on the significant opportunity in front of us,” said Antonio Neri, president, and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “In 2021, we accelerated our pivot to as a service, strengthened our core capabilities, and invested in bold innovation in high-growth segments. As our customers continue to demand greater connectivity, access to solutions that allow them to extract value from their data no matter where it lives, and a cloud-everywhere experience, HPE is poised to accelerate our market leadership and provide strong shareholder returns.”

“HPE executed with discipline and exceeded all of our key financial targets in FY21,” said Tarek Robbiati, EVP and CFO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “The demand environment has been incredibly strong and accelerated in the second half of the year, which gives us important momentum heading into next year. We are operating with greater focus and more agility and are well-positioned to deliver against our FY22 outlook.”