Instant view: HP names ex-SAP CEO Apotheker new CEO

Commentary:

SHAW WU, ANALYST, KAUFMAN BROS

"It's actually a really strong hire. And also the change of the non-executive chairman, because software is an area that we've always felt HP should have put more emphasis on. They've obviously made some acquisitions in software.

"Those new acquisitions are nice, but probably not going to move the needle that materially. They just added two executives with primarily software expertise. The CEO is not as known here in the States, but he's very well known in Europe.

"Leo might not have the big star power here in the States, but it's really the expertise that really matters.

"This will perhaps signal a change in the strategy where they emphasize software. And software is the highest margin business. And for a company of HP's size, it should be a lot bigger than what it is right now.

On the risk of HP executive departures: "That's always the risk."

"Many of those employees have had opportunities to go elsewhere and they haven't. Being executive VP at HP, running such a big unit, is almost like being a CEO already."

KIM CAUGHEY FORREST, SENIOR ANALYST, FORT PITT CAPITAL

"I am surprised this was their pick (that they went outside of company)."

"SAP (SAP.XE)is a very different sort of company than HP, and that is my biggest concern. The scope of SAP is very different, as are the customers. What does he know about hardware? That's the question."

KAUSHIK ROY, ANALYST, WEDBUSH SECURITIES

"It's good because they got somebody from outside, so he'll bring fresh perspective. But more importantly, he built SAP and SAP is a very R&D-oriented company.

"One thing which would be good for HP, and where HP has been lacking, is innovation. The innovation part of HP disappeared during the time of Mark Hurd. Mark Hurd brought operational excellence but what HP didn't have was R&D.

"He's an outsider which is also good I believe, because he can be an agent of change. Investors were focused on how do you bring back R&D, how do you bring back innovation, and this should be somewhat positive for HP stock."

BRIAN MARSHALL, ANALYST, GLEACHER & CO

"This will come as a positive event. The investment community wanted an outsider to be named CEO. They view HP internally as a little bit dysfunctional in terms of all the issues they had in senior management in the last couple of years.

"The good news is both the new CEO and new chairman are software guys.

"They only have 3 percent of total revenue in calendar 2009 coming from software. If they want to more effectively compete against....companies like IBM and Oracle, and to a lesser extent Cisco, they need more software.

"So I think this is a positive for HP."

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic, Bill Rigby, Alex Dobuzinskis.)