HP's outlook disappoints, driving shares to 9-year low

Revenue from that division will dive 11 to 13 percent in fiscal 2013 and be barely profitable, with operating margins of zero to 3 percent. That stands in stark contrast to IBM, which raised its full-year earnings outlook, reflecting its ability to manage costs, despite flat software revenue in the second quarter and a 2 percent decline in services.

Whitman became HP's third CEO in as many years after taking over following Leo Apotheker's abrupt dismissal just over one year ago. She is trying to revitalize the former industry icon via layoffs, cost cutting, and expansion into areas with longer-term potential such as enterprise computing services.

"The single biggest challenge facing Hewlett-Packard has been changes in CEOs and executive leadership, which has caused multiple inconsistent strategic choices, and frankly some significant executional miscues," Whitman told the investor conference in San Francisco.

"This is important because as a result it is going to take longer to right this ship than any of us would like," she added.

HP has lost more than two-thirds of its value since 2010, when its capitalization topped out at about $104.5 billion. Squeezed by crumbling demand for personal computers in a mobile era, significant leadership turbulence, and the advent of Apple Inc's iPad that year, HP's stock embarked on a steady decline. The company now has a market value around $30 billion.

Since Whitman took the helm in September 2011, the stock has fallen about 35 percent.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

HP has suffered through years of turbulence. Apotheker's 11-month tenure was marked by an acceleration of departures from various divisions, such as networking chief Marius Haas, as he brought in former coworkers from SAP AG.

Apotheker's predecessor, Mark Hurd, who is now president of Oracle Corp, also departed abruptly, after a sexual harassment scandal.