This BusinessWeek article focuses heavily on Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ: sentiment, chart, options) earnings and fundamental performance over the near term, and the company's prospects going forward. On November 19, H-P reported solid earnings growth, according ot the article, and "escaped the credit crunch that has hit a number of tech companies." This seemingly simple achievement has made a world of difference in light of the recent market environment, prompting one analyst to quip "It was very strong execution in a tough environment. It's impressive how HP continues to execute. They are one of the few companies that guided up earnings."

The article goes on to state that H-P has a "safety net" of sorts due to its " large global footprint and relatively low exposure to the financial-services market." In regards to the financial services sector, where weakness has apparently hit rival Dell and pressured even the mighty Cisco Systems, H-P CEO Mark Hurd said that he "saw no material weakness" in the industry. What's more, Hurd said that the company wants to invest more money in the financial industry: "We're actually trying to get more exposed to financial services. It's not as big as we'd like it to be."

Overall, H-P deserves a bit of bullish attention. The company has performed admirably in the earnings confessional, besting analyst estimates by an average of 5.10% during the past 4 reporting periods. Solid fundamental performance, but not stellar, and no where near the pedestal on which this article places the company. Furthermore, while the firm appears to be weathering the credit crunch better than most, its shares are still subject to the same market headwinds as the rest of the technology sector. The stock has received a bit with the rest of the market during the past couple of sessions, but H-P is still off its early November peak by more than 7%. The shares owe their 10-week and 20-week moving averages for their recent support during the latest spate of volatility.

Investor sentiment is rather concerning given the broad-market uncertainty, however. Less that 1% of the stock's float is sold short, and Zacks reports that 16 of the 19 analysts following the shares rate them a "buy" or better, with nary a "sell" to be found. While the contrarian takeaway from this BusinessWeek article is muted given the stock's long-term uptrend, any additional bullish attention should raise the hackles of serious contrarian investors.