Hewlett-Packard Co gave a disappointing outlook for its full-year revenue as consumers and businesses reduce spending on computers, printers and services, sending its shares down about 5 percent.

The world's top personal computer maker on Tuesday reported a net profit of $1.7 billion, or 70 cents a share, in the fiscal second quarter ended April 30, down from $2.1 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year ago.

Chief Executive Mark Hurd told Reuters that earnings came in a bit better than expected. Yet in terms of demand, Hurd said we're expecting roughly more of the same.

Excluding certain restructuring and acquisition-related items, HP posted a profit of 86 cents a share, matching analysts' average forecast according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue slipped 3 percent to $27.4 billion, a whisker off Wall Street's forecast of $27.5 billion.

For the current quarter, HP forecast earnings excluding items of 88 cents to 90 cents a share, with revenue flat to down 2 percent sequentially.

Wall Street is forecasting a profit of 89 cents a share on revenue of $27.5 billion.

In February, HP cut its full-year outlook after quarterly revenue missed expectations.

PROGNOSTICATIONS TWEAKED

For fiscal 2009, the company still expects an adjusted profit of $3.76 to $3.88 a share, but now expects revenue to fall 4 to 5 percent. It had previously forecast revenue to fall 2 to 5 percent.

HP is also the second-largest IT services company and No. 2 maker of servers, trailing International Business Machines Corp in both. Printers and printing supplies are another of its major business lines.

The company's PC business, which is less dependent on corporate customers than rival and No. 2 player Dell Inc's , has performed well in the downturn.

Even as global PC shipments declined, HP managed to increase shipments by 2.9 percent in the first calendar quarter, according to research group IDC, and boost its market share to 20.5 percent.

Some industry executives, including from Intel Corp and graphics chip maker Nvidia , say tech sector overall demand has bottomed and expect sales to pick up.

But this week, executives from other IT players including microchip maker Advanced Micro Devices and software services provider Sybase Inc offered more dour assessments of the economic environment, warning against betting on a tech sector recovery too soon.

Shares of Palo Alto, California-based HP fell about 5 percent to $34.72 from a regular close of $36.58 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Edwin Chan, Richard Chang)

Mark Hurd HP Dell