What happened The stock of personal computing powerhouse HP (NYSE: HPQ) powered higher in early Wednesday trading, rising 10.6% through 10 a.m. ET after beating fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimates with a stick. Instead of the $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) pro forma on sales of $15.4 billion that Wall Street had expected, HP reported EPS of $0.94 on sales of $16.7 billion last night. The company also provided guidance significantly above expectations for the first quarter of fiscal 2022 and for the coming year as a whole. Image source: Getty Images. So what Fiscal fourth-quarter 2021 sales climbed 9% from a year ago, and better operating profit margins (up 90 basis points to 7.4%) unleashed an explosion of earnings. Not only did pro forma EPS rise 52% to the aforementioned $0.94, HP also earned a quarterly net profit of $2.71 per share -- 5.5 times what it earned a year ago. For fiscal year 2021, sales grew 12% to $63.5 billion, operating profit margin expanded by 230 basis points to 8.4%, pro forma profits were up 67% at $3.79 per share, and profits as calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) grew 167% to $5.33 per share. Now what With a stock that's trading a few pennies above $36, HP shares now cost just 6.8 times trailing earnings. And they should be a real bargain if the company comes anywhere near analyst consensus estimates for 24% compound annual earnings growth over the next five years (according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence). All of a sudden, HP kind of looks like a growth stock! And new earnings guidance reflects this. For fiscal Q1 2022, HP predicts its GAAP profit will range from $0.92 to $0.98 per share, which is ahead of Wall Street's estimates. For the year, the company says it will earn between $3.86 and $4.06 per share -- less than it earned in a 2021 that went like gangbusters, but still much more than anyone on Wall Street is expecting -- and with pro forma profits growing a solid 10% in comparison to 2021. 10 stocks we like better than HPWhen our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and HP wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of November 10, 2021 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source