Net earnings for the quarter, the third of HP's fiscal year, were US$1.6 billion, or $0.67 per share, down from $2.0 billion, or $0.80 per share, in the same quarter a year earlier, HP announced Tuesday.

The company's purchase of services giant EDS last year again helped to prop up its results. Revenue from HP's services business almost doubled thanks to the acquisition, to $8.5 billion, while sales of printers, servers and desktop PCs all declined sharply from a year earlier, HP said.

Overall revenue came in at $27.5 billion, better than the $27.3 billion financial analysts had been expecting, according to Thomson Reuters. The net profit before restructuring costs and other one-time items was $0.91 per share, a penny better than the analyst forecast.

"HP's performance this quarter is a result of our strong business portfolio, efficient cost structure and scale," Chairman and CEO Mark Hurd said in a prepared statement. "Business is stabilizing, and we are confident that HP will be an early beneficiary of an economic turnaround and will continue to outperform when conditions improve."

Revenue from HP's Personal Systems Group, which sells desktop and laptop PCs, declined 18 percent from a year ago, to $8.4 billion, though unit shipments increased by 2 percent, HP said.