It's hard to talk about the death of the PC without mentioning Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), which even briefly considered killing the business completely.
But investors are optimistic that CEO Meg Whitman, who has been at the helm for two years, can help the world's largest PC maker reinvent itself in a smartphone and tablet dominated world.
In October, she revealed a 5-year turnaround plan. And HP's stock has been on the rise ever since, making back all of last year's losses and then some. While the stock is back on track, it could take a while for HP's business to get back in the groove. Whitman has warned revenue growth may not pick up until 2015.
Rival PC maker Dell (DELL) has also experienced a rather nice stock rebound this year. But Dell's rise has largely been driven by a feud between founder Michael Dell, who wants to take the company private again, and activist investor Carl Icahn, who owns about 8% of Dell and has his own plans to run Dell.
