The company announced earnings Thursday that were on the low side of analyst expectations, numbers that were largely overshadowed by the company's dramatic decision to pull out of the tablet market altogether and to consider options for either spinning out its PC group or putting it up for sale.

Going forward, HP said that fourth-quarter revenue will be between US$32.1 billion and $32.5 billion, and that earnings per share will be in the $1.12 to $1.16 range, excluding charges from the webOS shutdown. The market had been expecting earnings of $1.31 on sales of $34 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.

"Today we're delivering a tough outlook. Definitely the most difficult one for me as CFO," said HP Chief Financial Officer Catherine Lesjak during a conference call with analysts Thursday.

The company is looking at moving away from PCs in order to focus on more profitable areas, such as security software and business analytics, HP CEO Leo Apotheker said during the same call. "HP is at a critical point in its existence and these changes are fundamental to the success that we all want," he said.