Earnings Labs

HP Inc. (HPQ)

Q2 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, May 22, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Second Quarter 2014 Hewlett-Packard Earnings Conference Call. My name is Ellen, and I'll be your conference moderator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's call, Mr. Rob Binns, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Rob Binns

Analyst

Good afternoon. Welcome to our second quarter 2014 earnings conference call with Meg Whitman, HP's Chief Executive Officer; and Cathie Lesjak, HP's Chief Financial Officer. Before handing the call over to Meg, let me remind you that this call is being webcast. A replay of the webcast will be made available shortly after the call for approximately 1 year. Some information provided during this call may include forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize or the assumptions prove incorrect, the results of HP may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, any projections of revenue, margins, expenses, earnings, earnings per share, HP's effective tax rate, cash flow, share repurchase, currency exchange rates or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; and any statements concerning the expected development, performance, market share or competitive performance relating to products or services. A discussion of some of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions is set forth, in more detail, in HP's SEC reports, including its most recent Form 10-Q. HP assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any such forward-looking statements. The financial information discussed in connection with this call, including any tax-related items, reflect estimates based on information available at this time and could differ materially from amounts ultimately reported in HP's second quarter Form 10-Q. Revenue, earnings, operating margin and similar items at the company level are sometimes expressed on a non-GAAP basis and have been adjusted to exclude certain items including, amongst other things, amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges. The comparable GAAP financial information and a reconciliation of non-GAAP amounts to GAAP are included in the tables and in the slide presentation accompanying today's earnings release, both of which are available on HP Investor Relations web page at www.hp.com. I'll now turn the call over to Meg.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Thank you, Rob, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. With the first half of fiscal 2014 closed, I'm pleased to report that HP's turnaround remains on track. As you would expect in the turnaround of this scale, there are some businesses performing better than we expected and others with more work to do. We've made significant progress in putting the systems and structures in place to more effectively manage the business, and we are focused on putting the right talent in place to lead the next leg of the turnaround. Most of all, we stabilized the top line and we're starting to see the benefits of our focus and investments in key technologies. We have more work to do to improve the consistency of our execution and lower our cost structure to drive overall profitability, but I believe we're well positioned as we enter the second half of 2014. Rest assured, sustained, profitable revenue growth remains our top priority. Innovation is at the heart of our strategy to turn HP around, and in the second quarter, you saw the launch of several critical elements of our innovation agenda. In cloud, we launched HP Helion, a portfolio products and services that enables the next phase of our enterprise customers' cloud journey. Helion is changing the game in cloud, by allowing the integration of public, private, managed cloud and traditional IT environments on an open and secure platform. We are addressing a major pain point for the enterprise customers with Helion, and the early interest has been very positive. We also announced further significant business model innovation in our server business with the creation of a joint venture with Foxconn. Together, we're creating a new line of cloud-optimized servers, specifically targeting service providers. This partnership brings together the…

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

Thanks, Meg. As Meg said, we feel good about where we are, overall, as we reach the midpoint of the turnaround. In Q2, total company revenue was in line with expectations, with pockets of strength in PCs and Networking. Enterprise Group revenue was somewhat lower than expected, as Storage revenue fell, although Converged Storage solutions continue to outperform the market. Total revenue for the quarter was $27.3 billion, down 1% year-over-year and approximately flat in constant currency. By region, Americas revenue was $11.7 billion, down 6% year-over-year or down 4% in constant currency. In the U.S., revenue was impacted by key account runoff in Enterprise Services, plus softness in LaserJet Printing and in most EG business units. This was partially offset by strength in commercial PCs and Networking. In Brazil, we experienced weakness across all of our businesses. EMEA revenue was $10.3 billion, up 4% year-over-year, or up 2% in constant currency, driven by growth in mature Western European economies. We experienced double-digit growth in Personal Systems in EMEA, partially offset by declines in Printing. APJ revenue was $5.3 billion, up 1% year-over-year or up 6% in constant currency. We experienced revenue growth in China, primarily on the strength in the Enterprise Group and Printing. In Japan, Personal Systems revenue was very strong, due to the XP migration. Gross margin for the quarter was 24.2%, up 0.5 points year-over-year and up 1.4 points sequentially. Year-over-year, strength in Printing and improvements in Enterprise Services were partially offset by pressure from the strong revenue performance in Personal Systems and weaker Enterprise Group margins due to our competitive pricing environment. Sequentially, most of our businesses improved their gross margins, due to good cost management and pricing discipline. Total non-GAAP operating expenses for the quarter were $4.3 billion, up 3% year-over-year, primarily associated with…

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Thank you, Cathie. Before we go to questions, I'm sure you all noticed that, earlier today, the HP press release and earnings went live before the appropriate time, and we are sorry about that and we'll make sure that, that doesn't happen again. So now, we'll go on to questions.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Keith Bachman with Bank of Montréal.

Keith Bachman

Analyst

I have 2, if I could. The first one, Meg, you're taking some incremental costs out of the system with the additional headcount targets. It clearly says that you're -- it would seem to suggest that you're disappointed in some areas. Where, specifically, is the headcount coming out of in the system? Where are the targets? And I have a follow-up, please.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Yes, sure. So you'll recall that this program goes back to FY '12, and we've actually increased the number of people who will leave the company a couple of times during this program. And actually, on earlier calls, we actually signaled that there might be more opportunity. And I'm actually not disappointed at all with how we're doing. We just see more opportunities to lower our cost structure, streamline our operations without impairing our effectiveness, in fact, making us a more nimble and decisive company. And the longer I've been here, I see opportunities where we can become even better. So that's the genesis of the program. It will be across almost all the business units and across all the geographies and, particularly, in some of the functional areas that sort of helped the businesses grow. So listen, I'm not at all disappointed. I think it's the natural course of what makes sense in a turnaround of this size and scale.

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

The other thing that I'd add real quickly is just that it's going to create more capacity to invest, and I think that's really important to HP, because, as Meg has talked many times, the turnaround and our success in this turnaround is going to be on the strength of the innovative products and solutions that we bring to market.

Keith Bachman

Analyst

Okay, on my follow-up then, if I could, I wanted to turn to the Printing business. I was a little bit surprised to hear you say that the installed base seems to be declining with the good unit placements that you had for the last 3 to 4 quarters. And it really speaks to the supplies. The supplies, I thought, was disappointing this quarter, and it sounds like you're saying it's going to continue to be under pressure. If you could just flesh out a little bit more some of your comments on the Printing business in particular.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Yes. Let me start with the comment about the installed base largely relates to laser hardware and the softness in supplies largely relates to toner. Actually, ink is doing reasonably well. And this actually goes back a number of years. You recall that we, for about 7 years, didn't probably make the necessary product innovations in terms of the next generation of these machines in terms of multifunction printers. And it's also important on Managed Print Services business, we were late to that market and we're catching up fast. So we're going to place the right units. We now have the right products, not only for multifunction printers to direct customers and through the channel, but also importantly, for our Managed Print Services. So I think, as Cathie said, we'll see some softening in toner through the rest of the year, and then I think we'll start to see more normal patterns. And I think Cathie wants to add one thing to that.

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

I just -- I think the absolute size of the installed base is one dimension, but it's also the quality of the installed base. So if we place a unit today that has a much higher usage like an Ink in the Office unit or an Ink Advantage unit, and that's replacing a unit that didn't have as high usage. We actually are doing exactly what we want to do, so you got to be focused on the size of the installed base as well as the quality.

Operator

Operator

We have Toni Sacconaghi with Sanford Bernstein.

Toni Sacconaghi

Analyst

I wanted to follow up on the last question in terms of the restructuring and anticipation of this. It just strikes me as odd that you have a 2012 restructuring plan that is doing significant incremental workforce restructuring in 2015. My understanding originally was 27,000 was what was needed to rightsize the company, then it went to 30,000 or 29,000, and then it went to 34,000, and now it's going to 50,000. And to me, it feels like a whole new restructuring effort and a whole new outlook on the business. And I can't help wondering why something so significant has come up relatively suddenly. Moreover, I'd like to get your input on your confidence for 2015, because clearly, $1 billion in incremental savings is significant and should be applauded. But is that a message that you're not as confident that you can grow EPS in 2015 without this workforce rebalancing? So in other words, do you think HP will grow in 2015? And is the reason for this incremental workforce rebalancing, because you've lost confidence or you don't have as much confidence in the company's ability to grow top line in 2015?

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

So Toni, let me take that, and I'll let Cathie talk about guidance, because we're not actually going to give guidance today for 2015. But this actually has nothing to do with our confidence in the business. This has to do with really now understanding the opportunities that we have to make this company better. You've got to remember, this company was built over many years by acquisition, has 5 major business units, we sell through 150,000 VARs, we operate in 166 countries. And as you look at our processes, as you look at how we go to market, as you look at things like sales ops and marketing and frictionless e-commerce, there are so many opportunities to improve this company. And we went after the ones that were immediately obvious. But the longer I'm here and this management team is here, the more opportunities we see, and we think that's good news. That's good news because it makes us easier for customers to do business with, it makes it easier, frankly, for employees to get things done here and, by the way, has an added benefit of making us lower cost, so we're better able to compete in the new world order. But my view is I've done a number of turnarounds in my career, not at this scale, I will say, but they are always -- you see more opportunities, the deeper that you get in. And so I'm actually quite excited about the opportunities it provides. And Cathie said it well, it does give us the capacity to bring money to the bottom line, but frankly, also invest in the things that are going to help this company grow in a sustainable way over the future.

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

And Toni, I would add, we actually tried to signal this at the Security Analyst Meeting and then on the earnings call last quarter, because we knew we were working feverishly to understand the reengineering possibilities and what kind of ramifications that would have for the headcount that we need to run this company. And really, what I view us doing now is just finally getting to the point of quantifying for you all what that looks like. But it's been work that's been ongoing since last year.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

And I'll just say, in terms of revenue, I think the good news is we've seen revenue stabilization in the last 3 quarters. I mean, it wasn't that long ago when this company was declining 7%, 6%, 9% quarter-over-quarter, and we've had 3 quarters of, basically, flat growth. To me, that's encouraging because you've got to stabilize before you can grow. And you can see the improvement in virtually all the different businesses.

Operator

Operator

We have Katy Huberty with Morgan Stanley.

Kathryn Huberty

Analyst

Given Services signings are coming in slower than expected. Is this an area where it makes sense to acquire for growth? And then just as a follow-up to that, full year Services margin guidance requires you to exit the year around 6%. Cathie, can you just talk in more detail around where that meaningful improvement comes from over the next couple of quarters?

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

Yes, let me speak to the signings and the revenue growth. I think, as we said at SAM, and as we've said quarter-over-quarter, we're in the early innings of the sales transition to drive a much more proactive sales approach. And while total signings were down a bit, year-over-year, the places that we want to grow, what we call strategic Enterprise Services signings, were up double digits once again, and we saw a very encouraging improvement in win rates and actually signed over 200 new logos, which is actually a big turnaround for the sales organization over there. So we've got more work to do, but I'm feeling confident that we're pivoting the sales organization to be more proactive, and I think we're being invited to a lot more bids, if you will, than we had in the past, because I'm seeing it every day. Customers are much more confident in HP and much more confident in our Services business.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

And, Katy, let me address the margin question. We've made good progress in improving both our underperforming accounts, as well as really realizing good savings out of productivity initiatives. And we expect that this progress will continue in both of these areas throughout fiscal '14. And then if you couple that with better top line trends, we do expect that we will operate -- have operating profit margins in the 3.5% to 4.5% for the year. Again, we've got to continue to execute well. We've got to take advantage of the restructuring that we -- the previous restructuring that, by the way, is a bit accelerating, as well as this incremental program. But we are starting to get labor out of some of the protected geos, what tends to be higher cost. And we're also focused not just on labor savings but also on nonlabor savings that come from better efficiency across processes, consolidating service centers, looking at data center automation, all of which that will help us reach these margins of 3.5% to 4.5%.

Operator

Operator

We have Ben Reitzes with Barclays.

Benjamin Reitzes

Analyst

I got to just ask you to clarify your answer to Toni's question, because if you're getting $0.40 in run rate savings by 2016, with such a big increase in the headcount reductions, I mean, what are we supposed to do here? I mean, are we supposed to raise our out-year numbers? We can't just wait for the Analyst Day. We kind of need to know what you guys are thinking. $0.40 in 2016 kind of means we have to raise our estimates unless something really changes with the top line. So I know you want us to wait for the Analyst Day, but a lot of us got to make a decision by tomorrow. So we really need some clarity there. And then I just would also like to know, on the free cash flow side, your preference for buybacks versus acquisitions at this point of outperformance?

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Ben, I'm not exactly sure how to answer that question. You know that we don't provide guidance for the future until we get to our Security Analyst Meeting, and that's really no different than what we've ever done. What I will say is that the gross savings of $1 billion is incremental to the $3.5 billion to $4 billion that we announced for the 34,000. Those are gross savings. They are -- there is a cost to migrate some of that work, and so those are not the net savings. In fiscal '14, we do expect that the net savings from this incremental program is $0.02 to $0.03, and stay tuned for fiscal '15's update at the Security Analyst Meeting.

Operator

Operator

We have Amit Daryanani with RBC Capital Markets.

Amit Daryanani

Analyst

Just have a question on the PC side. You've had -- you've seen nice growth the last 2 quarters in a row, especially on the commercial side. Could you maybe just talk about how much of the growth you think is driven by Windows XP going end-of-life, or there's maybe more other factors in play as you go through the rest of the year?

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Yes. I mean, for the market, overall, we're seeing some good signs of stabilization, particularly in commercial PCs, which was up 2% year-over-year. And by the way, there is some strength in EMEA, flat year-over-year for the first time in 7 quarters, so the market's definitely stabilizing. I think we are benefiting from the migration from XP to Windows. We saw that in spades in Japan. Had a very, very strong quarter in Japan as that migration took place. We actually think that migration is going to extend for some period of time, maybe another 12 to 18 months, but we also see some momentum in what I would call a long-overdue PC refresh. And frankly, the fact that companies are realizing there's a need for a productivity tool that's different than just the tablet. So listen, I think we expect, over time, this is still to be a low-growth to slightly negative growth category, but I think we actually have a bit of wind at our backs over the next year to 18 months. I also actually have to call out credit to our team, our leadership team led by Dion Weisler. I mean they have focused on profitable growth, creating incredibly compelling products, very crisp market segmentation, leveraging our distribution strength in commercial and go-to-market, and really focusing on only doing profitable growth, not share for share's sake. So it's a combination of all those things, I think.

Amit Daryanani

Analyst

That's helpful. Let me just follow up on the cost-cutting initiative that you're expanding this quarter. What's the comfort level that this is the final number and there shouldn't be another expansion for this? Because since you started in May of 2012, this number is close to double in total headcount. So maybe just start with the comfort that this is it. And secondly, how does this play out for the morale of the company, given the headcount cuts seem to almost accelerate a little bit over -- every 6 months.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

So listen, I don't anticipate an additional program. And after this -- the end of this program, obviously, we've got to -- we are in the process of building productivity into the HP DNA into our business unit and function DNA. And so that productivity that ever ongoing quest for efficiency will be borne by the P&L of each of these different business units. But again, I would just say that this company had been through a lot. The acquisition of Compaq, the acquisition of EDS, 11 to 20 software acquisitions, a lot of change. And part of what we're doing is we are integrating, we're streamlining, we're putting in new ERP programs. We're investing in systems and technology to automate processes that frankly had not been done in a while. And so I actually think this is good news that we are continuing to take advantage of the opportunities that we see. However what I will tell you is I don't anticipate an additional program after this.

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

And let me address, then, the second part of Ben's question. I apologize I didn't catch that one. So, Ben, I think your question was around capital allocation and how we're thinking about that. We are still committed to the capital allocation approach that we outlined in our Security Analyst Meeting, which means that between dividends and share repurchases, we do anticipate returning at least 50% of our free cash flow to investors in fiscal '14. And we will see the timing of the share repurchase activity levels will vary quarter-to-quarter. But I think it's really important that given the attractiveness of the valuation of HP shares, as well as our anticipated cash flow generation level, our approach to capital allocation will have a bias towards share repurchases. When we then shift to kind of what about M&A, as we've talked about, we will evaluate any M&A using a returns-based framework. And any of the near-term considerations in terms of what types of things we might be interested in are absolutely going to be our strategic focus areas such as cloud, security and Big Data.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

And let me answer your question about morale. So listen, no company likes to decrease their workforce, and we recognize that it is difficult for employees. What I will tell you is I think our employees live it every single day. The environment that we're in, our employees know that there is ways we can be more efficient. They are, in some ways, the biggest source of ideas on what we can do differently. So I think everyone understands the turnaround we're in. Everyone understands the market realities. Everyone understands the need to create financial capacity to invest in innovation, which will be our point of difference and making sure that we have the right sales force coverage in every geography. So I don't think anyone likes this, but I think, actually, we've done a good of job explaining where we are in the turnaround, what the strategy is and what's going to be required to get HP to where we all want it to be in the industry.

Operator

Operator

We have Sherri Scribner with Deutsche Bank.

Sherri Scribner

Analyst

I wanted to get a little more detail on the pause in the Storage business. You did give us some detail, but I guess I was a little surprised to hear that the Converged piece, actually, saw some deceleration. So maybe some more detail on do you think you're losing share or do you think there's something more systemic that's going on in the industry right now?

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

So we actually think we'll gain 1 point at Storage in this market. I think what's going on here, and listen, I'm not sure anyone has total clarity on this, but as I have talked to customers, here is what I've learned when I talked to our sales team, is effectively, there's an efficiency thing going on here around compression and team provisioning. And then of course flash is on the horizon in a much more important way than it has been in the past. And then what's interesting is the high end, you can now get high-end performance for mid-tier pricing. And so there's, I think, a lot of choices now in front of storage buyers, whether it's small to medium-size to the big enterprises. And so my sense of the situation there is there's a pause, trying to figure out what the right thing to do is, and that this market will come back in the second half. Obviously, we have to wait to see that happen, but that is what most of our customers and our partners are telling me. And the good news is we are completely, perfectly positioned for where this market is going. And 3PAR is the exact right product. The flash product is exactly the right products, and we are -- I think we're really well-positioned for where the market is going. Obviously, no one knows exactly what's going to happen. If this market doesn't rebound in the next half, then there's another situation that we're facing. But I don't actually think that's the case. And again, we'll gain probably 1 point of share in this calendar quarter.

Operator

Operator

We have Brian Alexander with Raymond James.

Brian Alexander

Analyst

Maybe back to the M&A question. Given the stronger cash flow outlook that you expect this year, I'm just curious how that impacts the appetite to make larger acquisitions than what you've previously discussed. I think you said in the past, small to medium-size, but with the cash flow continuing to outperform, how should we think about deal size now?

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Well, first and foremost, I'll just reiterate what I've said, is we expect to be return-focused in our approach to acquisition. And as I said before, we don't feel the need for large transformative acquisitions. We haven't put a specific size range or limits on this, but I'd say they are most likely in the range -- from the small, low-hundreds-of-millions to mid-sized deals. And we'll largely be in the area of those -- of the strategic focus for HP, which would be, largely, cloud, security, Big Data that we think will advance our positions in those businesses.

Operator

Operator

We have Kulbinder Garcha with Crédit Suisse.

Kulbinder Garcha

Analyst

And again on the restructuring, I guess for Meg, maybe if I ask the question this way, has your revenue visibility for this business, over the medium term, or the growth outlook that you've had, whatever that might be, in any way significantly changed in the past 6 months that may have prompted some of these incremental restructuring you're pursuing? And then linked to that, previously, you made it very clear, both you and Cathie, that you're going to invest a large part of the initial round of savings. Would the retention of savings be significantly higher on this next round? Or you're essentially valuing them?

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Yes. So I'll say my outlook has actually not changed in terms of where we are in the turnaround, what my view is of the revenue trajectory. We obviously live in a market that's shifting at warp speed. This is the fastest market shift I've seen in my career, and by the way, you know I grew up mostly in the consumer space, which tends to move faster than the enterprise space. I would actually say I'm feeling more confident because we have seen a stabilization of revenue. The very high single-digit declines are over. We've had 3 quarters of pretty good stabilization, and I really like our product roadmap. Many folks who have been around HP for many, many, many years have said this is the product lineup -- best product lineup we've had in a decade. So I feel confident in it. What I will say is that we need to run this company more efficiently, not only for the benefit of cost, which is good because then we can reinvest in things that will make us stronger, but frankly, in terms of ease of doing business, ease of working here and faster, more nimble decision-making. We're going to have to be quicker and faster and more nimble to compete in this new world order. And by the way, having a lower cost structure is an added benefit to that. Cathie, do you want to add anything to that?

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

No, I think you're exactly right.

Operator

Operator

We have Bill Shope with Goldman Sachs.

Bill Shope

Analyst

I have a question on the Printing segment. Even excluding the tailwind you discussed, your operating margin strength was fairly substantial, given a 6% decline in supplies. Can you give us a bit more detail on the components of the Printing margin and, particularly, what's occurring within hardware margins? I understand you have more ink mix on the supply side, but what's going on within hardware margins, and what do you view as sustainable outside of the yen impact?

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

Thanks, Bill, so the increase in margins year-over-year, 3.6 points, the currency is about 1.5 points. And then the rest is really strong cost management, and it's across the portfolio. It's not a hardware comment versus a supplies comment. It is a comment about making sure that we've got the right cost structure. And then offsetting that a little bit is unfavorable mix. But it's really important that we step back a bit. We talked about, at the Security Analyst Meeting in October, the fact that we expected from IPG $0.07 to $0.11 of incremental EPS, and that was before incremental investment that we talked about at the time of being $0.12 across the company, and now we've upped it to $0.14. So we've got to stay -- we've got to remain focused on investing for the long term in this business, that means placing units, that means continuing to invest in R&D. We think there's a real opportunity to increase the amount of print specialists across the world, so we're focused on doing that. And it's also really exploiting these business models: Ink Advantage, Ink in the Office, our multifunction printer lineup and our Managed Print Services. Those are all really important points that we've got to stay focused on. And then finally, I'd say that we've got to continue to be very competitive. The market is tough. We've got Japanese competitors who have an even bigger war chest as a result of the yen depreciation. And so we will be more aggressive where we need to be.

Operator

Operator

We have Rod Hall with JPMorgan.

Rod Hall

Analyst

I just wanted to ask you guys if you could talk a little bit about some R&D increase. I know you gave a little bit of color, but could you give us a little bit more color in that area, just what you're increasing, what you're focusing on with the additional R&D? And then I know it's a question that's been asked a bunch of times, but the $0.02 to $0.03 that you expect to realize in net savings here at the -- in the last part of this year, can you talk to us about the phasing of the savings over the period? Is most of that to $0.02 to $0.03 coming in fiscal Q4? Or is it coming linear when you cross the 2 quarters? Help us understand how that's ramping through the back end of the year.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Okay. So let me start with that last question, that -- those $0.02 to $0.03, there's a little bit that happened in Q3 and a little bit that happened in Q4. If you actually go and look at the guidance that we provided for EPS, the midpoint would suggest that -- and we've got it flat sequentially. Normal seasonality would suggest it would be down about 1 point. The restructuring savings are actually bringing it to being flat sequentially, so that will give you a little indication of what's going on from a Q3 perspective. And I'm sorry, I've lost track of your first question. R&D. So in terms of R&D, the increase in R&D, year-over-year, is actually very broad-based. Just about every business that we have is increasing R&D on a year-over-year basis. Obviously, it's focused in strategic areas: cloud, Big Data, security, PageWide array, 3D printing. Kind of across the board, we're increasing R&D, so it's really not a specific comment for a particular business.

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

And I'll just say that actually, we've increased R&D in servers. We love our roadmap. We love the opportunities there, and we're pretty excited about some of the innovation that's coming down the pike there.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Yes, so we've got R&D increases in EG, in Storage -- within that, we got Storage, we've got Industry Standard Servers. I mean it's really broad-based that we're making incremental R&D investments year-over-year.

Operator

Operator

We have Jim Suva with Citigroup.

Jim Suva

Analyst

Meg, when you think about a lot of things are changing in the industry. On the server-side, you got Lenovo purchasing the IBM x86 series. It seems like there's a lot of disruption going on and an opportunity for HP to gain share in servers, as we're seeing a lot of CTOs kind of confused and not sure how that will all pan out. Can you help us confirm if, indeed, you expect to gain some shift? Not to be blunt but it would probably seem like a blatant mis-execution step if HP doesn't take advantage of this on the very near term, as an opportunity.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

So we're focused on this, and there's some early signs that show that we're making some progress, as we've seen an increase in win rates attributable almost directly to the uncertainty in the marketplace, around the IBM business moving to Lenovo, and we're building pipeline for future incremental deals. So good win rates, good pipeline, feeling good about this. It's a longer sales cycle than you think, particularly in blades and some of these other areas. This takes a bit of time, but I think we are -- we have got the sales team focused on this. They're pretty excited about it. And it's an open door that we're running through.

Rob Binns

Analyst

With that, I think we'll conclude the questions.

Margaret Whitman

Analyst

Great. Thank you very much for joining us today.

Catherine Lesjak

Analyst

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our call for today. Thank you.