Warren Buffett buys nearly $5 billion worth of HP shares ⁠— here's why you might want to ride his coattails

But in recent years, the Oracle of Omaha has warmed up a bit to the tech space. His holding company Berkshire Hathaway started buying Apple in 2016. Now the iPhone giant is the largest public holding in its portfolio.

Just last week, Berkshire revealed that it had purchased 121 million shares of PC and printer hardware company HP (HPQ), a stake worth nearly $4.7 billion at today’s prices.

HP shares quickly shot up 15% on the news.

Let’s quickly dig into the move, and figure out if following Buffett into HP makes sense for investors.

An unexpected shopping spree

Berkshire’s cash pile grew to a near-record $146.7 billion at the end of 2021, largely because Buffett found little that excited him. He is a value investor, after all, and U.S. stock market valuations were bloated up until a few months ago.

But based on his company’s recent moves, it's clear that Buffett now sees opportunity in the market.

In March, Berkshire snapped up over 136 million shares of Occidental Petroleum (OXY), representing nearly 15% of the integrated oil and gas giant’s total shares outstanding.

Later in the month, Berkshire reached an agreement to buy insurance company Alleghany for $11.6 billion.

And now, by loading up 121 million shares of HP, Berkshire has become its largest shareholder with an 11.4% stake.

A fast-growing company

With a market cap of around $41 billion, HP isn’t nearly as big as Buffett’s other major tech holding, Apple. But it’s one of the leading players in the PC industry.

And business is not standing still.

In HP’s fiscal Q1, revenue grew 8.8% year over year to $17 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.10, up 19.6% from the year-ago period and well above management’s prior outlook.

In March, HP announced that it would acquire video and voice solutions company Poly in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.3 billion. The move should accelerate HP’s growth strategy, helping it build a leading portfolio of hybrid work solutions.

The company is returning cash to investors, too. HP pays quarterly dividends of 25 cents per share, translating to a decent annual yield of 2.6%.