Separately, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg News, H.P.’s chief executive, Léo Apotheker, told top executives that he was bracing for “another tough quarter” in the July period.

The company’s staffing plans are “unaffordable given the pressures on our business,” Mr. Apotheker wrote in the May 4 memo to deputies including Todd Bradley, executive vice president of the personal systems business, and its chief financial officer, Cathie Lesjak.

The third quarter is “going to be another tough quarter, one in which we will be driving hard for revenue and profit,” Mr. Apotheker wrote. “We have absolutely no room for profitless revenue or any discretionary expenditures.”

The memo indicates that the company continues to come under pressure and suggests job cuts are possible. In February, the company reported results that disappointed investors.

H.P. is expected to report profit excluding certain costs of $1.21 a share on sales of $31.5 billion, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

“This is a continuation of what we’ve seen recently from H.P. — weakness on the top line, but better cost controls,” said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Gleacher Company in San Francisco.

Hewlett-Packard shares dropped as much as 5.1 percent to $37.76 in extended trading. Its stock closed down 61 cents to $39.80 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

Hewlett-Packard also issued a disappointing forecast for the April period, casting a pall over Mr. Apotheker’s first quarter as chief and underscoring the challenges he faces. H.P.’s reliance on home-computer shoppers leaves the company vulnerable to a consumer slump, while its services unit is using acquisitions to take advantage of a shift to cloud computing.

Mr. Apotheker is stepping up an emphasis on higher-margin businesses including servers, storage computers and software, and deceasing its dependence on PCs, Mr. Marshall said.

Mr. Apotheker, who took over Nov. 1, outlined his strategy for the first time on March 14, announcing a stronger move into software and the expanding market for computing delivered via the Web. The company is starting a cloud-computing service that will let developers create applications for consumers and businesses that run on H.P. servers, Mr. Apotheker said at the time.

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