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HP Hauls In EDS: Page 2 of 4

HP may certainly find itself taking a short-term hit, if EDS’s recent financials are anything to go by, although this is clearly a calculated gamble on the part of Mark Hurd.

The biggest challenge for HP as it moves forward is a strategic one, according to TBR’s Hanson. “EDS makes HP look a little more like IBM Global Services, but the missing piece of the puzzle is a really strong consulting arm,” she says.

HP, of course, launched a failed bid to buy PwC’s consulting division in 2000, only to see arch-rival IBM walk off with the consulting arm for $3.5 billion a couple of years later.

The obvious candidate to fill this gap would be Accenture, although Hurd dodged a question on this topic during a conference call to discuss the EDS acquisition this morning. Asked why “EDS is a better fit than Accenture,” he replied, somewhat vaguely, that the EDS deal made sense “strategically” and “financially.”

This doesn’t mean that HP is unlikely to consider Accenture in the future, at least according to TBR’s Hanson.