Market Update: EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) – EMC Earnings: Weakness In Hardware Remains, Non-Core Businesses Drive Growth

[at Forbes] – EMC announced its first quarter results on April 20, reporting a 2% year-over-year decline in revenues to just under $5.5 billion. The company has witnessed a slowdown in the hardware business over the years, leading to consistent year-over-year declines in product sales over the last few quarters. Comparatively, EMC-owned VMware Read more on this. EMC Corporation (EMC) , valued at $51.50B, opened this morning at $26.34. Looking at the stock, its one day range is $26.25 to $26.47 and has traded between $22.66 and $28.77 over the past year. EMC shares are currently priced at 14.41x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 10.02x earnings multiple. The company pays shareholders $0.46 per share annually in dividends, yielding 1.80%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 28 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.42 per share, which would be $0.01 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.02 sequential decrease. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $1.83 would be a $0.01 improvement when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $6.03 Billion. If reported, that would be a 0.66% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Raymond James downgraded EMC from Strong Buy to Outperform (Apr 7, 2016). Previously, Maxim Group upgraded EMC from Hold to Buy. Given all the information above, we should disclose to readers that the average price target is $28.71, which is 9.00% above than it opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:EMC) Similar Articles: Market Update (NYSE:EMC): Revenue slides at Dell on weak hardware sales Stock Update: EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) – VMware Earnings Preview: Shareholders Uneasy Despite Expected Growth Stock Update: EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) – EMC exec predicts job growth after Dell merger