Summary Box: Tough times for HP ahead

PATIENCE: Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to spend years turning itself around as it addresses internal problems and battles broader threats from smartphones and tablet computers.

REWARDS: Investors willing to wait could see a payoff. HP's market value is half of what it was about a year ago, and HP could start to improve in the second half of 2012.

TOUGH TIMES: It won't be easy. Richard Gardner, an analyst at Citi Investment Research, described HP's road to recovery as "not a journey for the faint of heart."