HP Inc HPQ 5.33% issued a surprise fiscal Q3 earnings announcement after the market close on Tuesday. The announcement included the sale of its marketing optimization assets, which will produce Q3 gains of $245 million and Q4 gains of $40 million for HP.

In light of the sale, HP increased its Q3 EPS guidance by $0.03, but Bernstein analyst A.M. Sacconaghi, Jr. is not fooled. HP also maintains its full-year 2016 EPS guidance of $1.59–$1.65 and lowered its fiscal 2016 FCF guidance by $300 million.

“At a high level, HP’s 2H FY 16 EPS will benefit from an incremental $0.13 gain from a disposition, yet the company did not change its guidance — instead, it will effectively use the gain as an offset to draw down supplies channel inventory (an estimated $0.08 hit),” Sacconaghi explained.

It seems as if the market was not fooled by the financial maneuvering either. HP shares were down 4.7 percent in early Wednesday trading.

Sacconaghi sees…

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