Like Dell, now HPE surges on a massive guidance hike. Yes, business is that good

It happened again — this time with Hewlett Packard Enterprise . Shares soared nearly 25% after the company reported a blowout fiscal 2026 second quarter on strong data center demand. Like Dell , the HPE stock response appears justified, given an additional massive outlook hike. The Street was looking for full-year earnings per share (EPS) of $2.42. That was understandable because prior EPS guidance had been for between $2.30 and $2.50. Incredibly, HPE management went to $3.35 to $3.45, while also providing early positive commentary about fiscal year 2027. At the midpoint, the new guide represents a nearly 42% increase in HPE's per-share profit outlook. The market had thought HPE was trading at about 19.6 times based on the prior fiscal 2026 earnings estimates — but looking back, based on the new numbers, it was actually trading at only 13.8 times. Even with its price surge to around $59, the stock is currently trading at roughly 17.4 times fiscal 2026 estimates, still below the pre-print valuation. Following Dell's earnings last Thursday evening, shares surged nearly 33% the next day, another almost 11% on Monday, and about 2% on Tuesday. Dell and HPE are competitors. Both make servers, storage, and networking gear. Both are riding a huge wave of demand for data center infrastructure to run artificial intelligence. …