Did HP’s Dividends Make Up For Its Stock Price?
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HP Inc. (HPQ) funds its shareholder dividend through PC and printer sales, offering a 4.2% yield at the November 3, 2026 close. That payout attracts investors looking for income, even as the share price has trailed the broader market for years. Once every dividend is counted, what do you think an HP holder made over the past five years, next to the market?
How Far Has HP Stock Trailed The Market?
Without counting dividends, an HP holder lost money. While the S&P 500 rose 65.4%, the shares fell 6.2% over the past five years. That performance leaves HP stock 71.6 percentage points behind the market, giving investors who only watch the share price five years with nothing to show for them.
How Much Did HP’s Dividends Add?
Reinvesting dividends lifted HP stock to a 13.2% return over the same five years. Those payouts added 19.4 percentage points, turning a share price loss into a net gain. Because the price itself went backward, dividends accounted for all of an HP holder’s return and more.
Did The Dividends Close The Gap For HP Holders?
Not by much, as the four returns below show.
| Return from Oct 26, 2021 to Nov 3, 2026 | On price alone | With dividends reinvested |
|---|---|---|
| The stock | -6.2% | +13.2% |
| S&P 500 | +65.4% | +76.4% |
Before taxes and costs. The S&P 500 is measured through the SPDR S&P 500 ETF.
The S&P 500 returned 76.4% with dividends over the same five years, leaving HP 63.2 percentage points behind. HP’s payouts added more than the market’s own dividends, which contributed 11.0 percentage points. The broader market still paid its own dividends, however, meaning HP’s payouts closed only a small part of its gap with the market.
What This Means If You Own HP For Income
Over the past year, HP’s dividends and the price change on the shares they bought added 5.2 percentage points to its return, compared with about 0.9 points for the S&P 500. For each dollar invested, HP’s holders collected far more in dividends than S&P 500 holders did. Over five years, though, that extra cash still left HP far behind the market.
HP generates the cash for its dividend from two main businesses: Printing, and Personal Systems, the PC business that made up 69.7% of revenue in fiscal 2025. On its August 26, 2026 call, management said it remains committed to returning approximately 100% of its free cash flow to shareholders over time, provided its gross leverage stays under 2 times and there aren’t better return opportunities.
For an income holder, the one number to watch is HP’s return with dividends against the S&P 500’s return with dividends, rather than the yield on its own.
Now You Know HP. Here Is A Better Way To Invest
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