Tech Stocks This Week: Intuit's New CEO, HP's Earnings, and More

Three interesting stories in tech this week came from three companies that reported earnings: enterprise data storage platform Pure Storage: (NYSE: PSTG), financial software company Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), personal computer and printer company HP (NYSE: HPQ).

1. Pure Storage added nearly 400 customers in a quarter of rapid growth.
2. Intuit announced plans for two of its top executives to step down.
3. HP posted double-digit growth in revenue and earnings.

Pure Storage stock soars

Shares of Pure Storage surged on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and a strong outlook for the full year.

Revenue jumped 37% year over year, surpassing the high end of management's guidance range for the period. Pure Storage's non-GAAP gross margin of 68% -- the company's highest in its history -- similarly came in ahead of guidance for the key metric to be between 63.5% and 66.5%.

"Our continued focus on enabling customers to succeed in a data-centric world is working and validated, maintaining Pure's lead in the data storage market," said Pure Storage CEO Charles Giancarlo about the quarter.

With the addition of almost 400 customers during the quarter, Pure storage now serves over 5,150 organizations.

Intuit's executive shake-up

Along with its second-quarter results, Intuit announced this week that its CEO, who has been leading Intuit for over 11 years, is stepping down at the end of the year. Replacing him, Intuit said, is vice president and general manager of the small-business and self-employed group -- a segment that is integral to Intuit's growth story.

Current Intuit CEO Brad Smith had good words for the incoming CEO, Sasan Goodarzi. "Having led each of our largest businesses and served as our chief information officer during his 13 years with the company, Sasan is a proven leader and growth driver," Smith said about the leadership change.

Intuit also announced its chief technology officer, Tayloe Stansbury, is stepping down on Jan. 1, 2019. He was "a game-changer for Intuit," Smith said in the press release. Replacing Stansbury is senior vice president and chief product development officer for Intuit's small-business and self-employed group Marianna Tessel.

HP's solid growth

HP's second-quarter results, reported on Thursday, spotlighted solid growth across the technology company's business. Third-quarter revenue increased 12% year over year, driven by a 12% jump in personal systems revenue and an 11% boost from its printing segment.

HP's personal systems segment was driven by 6% unit sales growth in notebooks and 7% growth in desktops.

GAAP and non-GAAP EPS for the quarter climbed 32% and 21%, respectively.

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Daniel Sparks has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Intuit. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.