Hewlett-Packard has been forced to lower its 2009 profit forecast due to the current global economic crisis hurting the company's consumer product lines.

HP was able to persevere during a rough 2008 that hurt many other tech companies, but analysts were skeptical how much longer the company would be able to weather the storm.  

"The swing in the revenue outlook is particularly glaring and suggests that, clearly, their business has slowed materially over the last two months," said Calyon Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi.  

The company earned $1.9 billion in profit on $28.8 billion in sales for the last quarter -- which ended on January 31 -- though revenue increased only 1 percent compared to the same time in 2008.  HP's sales of PCs, printers, ink and servers also declined, with several other HP businesses expected to be hurt in the future.

HP also is slashing jobs and closing numerous HP offices, with company executives making decisions based on the idea that the economy won't get better in 2009.  Company CEO Mark Hurd has had his salary cut 20 percent, and other executive salaries have been slashed from 2.5 percent to 15 percent.

HP already announced it would cut almost 25,000 jobs over the next three years, aiming to reduce the number of redundant positions it has due to the EDS acquisition.

Cost cutting measures and the ability to increase prices should help HP's profitability remain high over the next four quarters, but the economy, as it continues to struggle, may convince possible customers to save money instead of purchasing new technology sold by HP.