Net revenue for the quarter reached US$28.8 billion, up 1 percent compared to the same period last year.

Net income was $1.9 billion, or $0.75 earnings per share, down from $2.1 billion, or $0.80 earnings per share. On a pro forma basis, which excludes certain one-time items, net income came in at $2.3 billion, the same as in the first quarter of 2008, although earnings per share rose to $0.93 from $0.86.

Without strong growth in its Services group, HP would have fared much worse. Revenue for that group grew 116 percent to $8.7 billion, primarily due to HP's acquisition of EDS. The Services group accounted for about one-third of the company's profit, said Cathie Lesjak, HP's CFO, during a conference call to discuss the earnings.

HP is progressing ahead of schedule with its EDS integration plan and by the end of the first quarter had cut 9,000 of the nearly 25,000 jobs that it expected to cut as part of the deal, said Mark Hurd, chairman and CEO at HP.

Even though HP doesn't expect the economy to improve soon, it does think demand for its services will remain strong. "In many cases, the services market sometimes moves counter-cyclical to the economy," Hurd said. That's because while companies struggle, they sometimes turn to services as a way to save costs in the short term.