US Hardware / Semiconductors Sector Specialist Commentary: Harlan’s AVGO Defense (and call at 11); HPE; HPQ

Research evidence excerpt

US Hardware / Semiconductors Sector Specialist Commentary: Harlan’s AVGO Defense (and call at 11); HPE; HPQ

ver 2026 incrementally positive, with the company showcasing a broad AI

portfolio spanning compute, storage, and — most notably — networking, where JNPR/Aruba integration is ahead of

schedulejust under a year post-close. The networking story is the key stock mover here: HPE guided to networking revenue

growth "approaching" +10% in FY26 and +8-12% in FY27, and while Samik views this as conservative (supply chain-driven, not

demand-driven), orders are tracking strongly across the portfolio with FY26 supplier capacity already fully allocated. On the

product side, HPE is first-to-market with the liquid-cooled QFX5250 1.6T scale-out switch and secured a design-win on AMD's

Helios rack-scale platform, while the Aruba/Juniper Mist platform unification via a single AI-driven ops layer strengthens the

software moat. The wildcard upside is FY27 networking guidance; Samik sees conservatism tied to memory/HBM supply

constraints rather than demand weakness, suggesting numbers could move higher as multi-year supply agreements get locked in.

HPQ: Key Takeaways from Investor Meetings – PS Margin Trough in F4Q, AI PC Mix Tracking Ahead. Morgan Markets

is down – contact me for note.

Samik Chatterjee recaps investor meetings with HPQ's interim CEO Bruce Broussard, where management reiterated conviction

that PS margins trough in F4Q, supported by ~20% like-for-like pricing increases (sustained over the next few quarters), focused

mix management, and internal cost-out to absorb rising memory costs — the "swing factor" in winning/losing deals. AI PC

penetration tracked ahead of plan at 44% of shipments in F2Q, with demand increasingly tied to real use cases (customer service