NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — A Hewlett-Packard Co. split is good for the company and its investors and opens a door to acquisitions, analysts said Monday as the computer giant confirmed plans to separate its hardware and services businesses.

If successful, H-P’s HPQ, -0.99% computer/printer business and enterprise/services operations would roll out as two standalone publicly-traded companies, each with more than $50 billion in revenue.

“We believe this is a bold and smart move by H-P,” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White said in a note to clients. The brokerage maintained its hold rating on the stock and $34.50 price target.

Investors cheered the move in pre-market trade, sending shares up almost 5% to $36.95 after H-P confirmed the plans, which were first reported late Sunday by The Wall Street Journal.

Cantor says the move gives H-P flexibility to sell off one or both businesses if an attractive offer emerges. It also gives H-P the ability to focus on more profitable lines of business, such as building out the cloud – a major focus of Oracle Corp. ORCL, -0.71% last week at its annual IT conference.

An analyst group at Wells Fargo said a split “makes sense” in light of the competitive marketplace, giving H-P the ability to execute an aggressive strategy with the services business, which is facing more competition from the likes of IBM IBM, -1.72% and other software-as-a-service companies.

The move simultaneously frees up H-P’s older PC business, which still accounts for roughly half of the company’s profits, to grow on its own accord and potentially seek out attractive M&A deals.

The announcement follows reports from Re/code that H-P for months had hunted for a suitor for its traditional PC business. The company unsuccessfully approached both China’s Lenovo Group 992, -3.32% and Dell Inc, according to the reports.

In a note to clients, Wells Fargo said a separation enables H-P to become more active in both divestitures and acquisitions.

This type of aggressive strategy is becoming “increasingly necessary” in fiscal 2015, said the note.