Hewlett-Packard has had some bad quarters in its 73 years, but perhaps none as bad as its latest -- when it reported a loss of $8.9 billionon sales that fell 5% to $29.7 billion.

The poor third-quarter results produced little drama on Wall Street, because CEO Meg Whitman had prepared investors for a disappointing performance by launching a massive corporate restructuring earlier this year.

In March, HP said that it would be combining its PC and printer businesses; in May, it announced plans to cut 27,000 jobs; and early last month, the company took an $8 billion ...