These non-GAAP financial measures may have limitations as analytical tools, and these measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of HP's results as reported under GAAP. Some of the limitations in relying on these non-GAAP financial measures are:
- Items such as amortization of purchased intangible assets, though not directly affecting HP's cash position, represent the loss in value of intangible assets over time. The expense associated with this loss in value is not included in non-GAAP operating profit, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share and therefore does not reflect the full economic effect of the loss in value of those intangible assets.
- Items such as restructuring charges that are excluded from non-GAAP operating profit, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share can have a material impact on cash flows and earnings per share.
- HP may not be able to liquidate immediately the long-term investments included in gross cash, which may limit the usefulness of gross cash as a liquidity measure.
- Other companies may calculate non-GAAP net revenue, non-GAAP operating profit, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, gross cash and free cash flow differently than HP does, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.
Compensation for Limitations Associated with Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
HP compensates for the limitations on its use of non-GAAP net revenue, non-GAAP operating profit, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, gross cash and free cash flow by relying primarily on its GAAP results and using non-GAAP financial measures only supplementally. HP also provides robust and detailed reconciliations of each non-GAAP financial measure to its most directly comparable GAAP measure within this press release and in other written materials that include these non-GAAP financial measures, and HP encourages investors to review carefully those reconciliations.
Usefulness of Non-GAAP Financial Measures to Investors
HP believes that providing non-GAAP net revenue, non-GAAP operating profit, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, gross cash and free cash flow to investors in addition to the related GAAP measures provides investors with greater transparency to the information used by HP's management in its financial and operational decision-making and allows investors to see HP's results "through the eyes" of management. HP further believes that providing this information better enables HP's investors to understand HP's operating performance and to evaluate the efficacy of the methodology and information used by management to evaluate and measure such performance. Disclosure of these non-GAAP financial measures also facilitates comparisons of HP's operating performance with the performance of other companies in HP's industry that supplement their GAAP results with non-GAAP financial measures that are calculated in a similar manner.
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