The company's printer and desktop PC businesses fared less well, however, and results from HP's enterprise hardware business were mixed.

Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd was upbeat about the results, saying HP's geographic reach and wide product portfolio are helping to shield it against the effects of the tough economy. But like his peers at other big tech companies, Hurd was cautious about the future.

"We think it will be a challenging environment and we're planning as such," he told reporters during a conference call to discuss the results.

Revenue for HP's fourth fiscal quarter, ended Oct. 31, was US$33.6 billion, up 19 percent from a year earlier, or up 5 percent excluding the effect of the EDS acquisition. Net profit was $2.1 billion, down from $2.2 billion in the same quarter last year. Excluding one-time charges, net profit climbed 13 percent to $2.6 billion.

HP had already preannounced its financial results last week, so Monday was more about seeing which product divisions did well and which fared poorly.