HP's earnings jumped ahead of expectations to 55 cents a share, up from 42 cents a year earlier. Net incomes for the quarter ending Jan. 31 was $1.5 billion, The Times reported. Shares dropped in after-hours on concerns about rising inventories.

Surprisingly strong: PC sales, which jumped 17 percent, three times the rate of the industry. HP's printing and imaging division jumped 7 percent. But the company is not firing on all cylinders. If PC growth drops out of the picture, things look substantially worse.

A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said without the computer sales, the company’s organic growth was only about 2 percent. “That’s a pretty anemic performance,” Mr. Sacconaghi said. “PCs were bailing out what was, quite frankly, a rather mediocre performance.”