IBM 2008 profit target seen strong
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IBM  on Thursday forecast 2008 earnings well ahead of Wall Street expectations as strong growth abroad made up for weaker results in the United States, sending its shares up 5 percent.
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(InfoWorld) - IBM's chairman, CEO and president, Sam Palmisano, declared the vendor's second-quarter fiscal 2007 financial results the company's best growth performance in six years. This quarter's strong revenue growth -- "our best since 2001" -- shows IBM's global reach and the value customers are placing on the company's expanded software line and services, he said in a statement. Palmisano added that IBM is well on its way to achieving its goals for growth through 2010, making "solid progress" on its road map for the next three years. For the second quarter of fiscal 2007, which ended June 30, IBM reported a rise in net income of 11.8 percent over the year-ago quarter to $2.3 billion on revenue up 9 percent to $23.8 billion. EPS (earnings per share) grew 19 percent to $1.55, compared to the same quarter a year ago. The results included a pre-tax gain of $81 million related to IBM's sale of its printing systems division to Ricoh. Excluding that gain, income from continuing operations was $2.2 billion, up 8 percent on the second quarter of fiscal 2006. A consensus estimate of Thomson Financial analysts, which didn't include the pre-tax gain, was that IBM would report revenue of $23.1 billion on an EPS of $1.47. IBM's revenue from the Americas rebounded during the quarter to grow 6 percent on the year-ago quarter to $10.1 billion, while revenue from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa rose 13 percent to $8.2 billion and Asia-Pacific revenue was up 10 percent to $4.6 billion. Back in April, when discussing IBM's first-quarter results, Mark Loughridge, the company's CFO, identified a slowdown in the vendor's U.S. enterprise business, particularly in the industrial, financial services, and communications sectors, in March. He didn't provide a satisfactory answer as to why the slowdown had occurred but dismissed it as more of a blip than an indicator that something serious was wrong. Loughridge predicted modest growth for IBM's overall Americas business in the second quarter. There was also good news in the most recent quarterly report about IBM's services business, which, though large, has been a stumbling block in terms of growth. Total global services revenue rose 10 percent in the second quarter, led by growth in Asia-Pacific. IBM cut costs by making two rounds ofÂ job cutsÂ in its services divisionÂ in May, affecting more than 2,800 employees. IBM's systems and technology division saw revenue growth of just 2 percent to reach $5.1 billion, while the vendor's software business increased revenue by 13 percent to $4.8 billion. Significant events for IBM occurring in the second quarter included Amazon.com paying the vendor an undisclosed amount of money toÂ settle all outstanding patent lawsuits between the two companies. They also signed a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement to end a dispute that began in 2002 and made it to the courts last year when IBM sued Amazon.com and then the online retailer countersued with both parties alleging that the other had infringed on its patents. IBM also began shipping its new dual-core Power6 microprocessor on a new midrange server, the System p 570, and started talking up blade and mainframe offerings for SMBs. The vendor also put the next major release of its DB2 database, currently known as Viper 2 and due to ship before the end of the year, into open beta testing On the acquisitions front, IBM made two purchases in June to add functionality to its Rational development tools family. The vendor firstÂ acquired Web application security vendor WatchfireÂ for an undisclosed sum and then announced plansÂ to buy Swedish software development tools company TelelogicÂ for $745 million. In other IBM news, the company announced Wednesday the retirement of Paul Horn, the current head of IBM Research. Taking over his role is John Kelly, previously senior vice president, technology and intellectual property at IBM.
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Microsoft is expected to report a sharp  rise in quarterly profit this week, boosted by surging revenue  as strong computer sales drive demand for its Windows operating  system and Office software.
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Oracle Corp  posted a 35 percent  rise in quarterly profit on higher-than-expected software sales  and issued a strong outlook, easing concerns it may be hurt by  the slowing U.S. economy and pushing its shares up 6.5 percent.
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Stock futures rose on Friday, suggesting a rebound from recent session losses, helped by a higher-than-expected profit forecast from IBM  and earnings from economic bellwether General Electric Co .
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Strong overseas demand pushes IBM to a better-than-expected fourth quarter.
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IBM reported a better-than-expected 24  percent rise in preliminary quarterly earnings on Monday on  strong sales in overseas markets, driving its shares up 6  percent and spurring a broader tech rally.
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International Business Machines Corp. told Wall Street to raise its 2008 estimates Thursday, further boosting a stock that was already buoyed by strong fourth-quarter earnings.
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Computer giant IBM said its fourth-quarter profit rose 12.2 percent from a year ago to 2.7 billion dollars, topping most Wall Street forecasts.
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A weaker U.S. dollar should help  IBM IBM.N exceed Wall Street forecasts when the company  reports year-end results next Tuesday, boosting profits from  overseas sales for the world's largest computer maker.
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IBM, a barometer of trends in the computing business, delivered a solid quarterly performance on Monday that pointed to modest if uneven improvement in the corporate technology sector.
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NEW YORK - IBM Corp. posted quarterly results on Monday showing 9 percent revenue growth from last year and slight earnings growth, despite a $320 million charge it took during the quarter to settle some claims in a lawsuit over its pension plan.
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Diversified manufacturer United Technologies Corp  said on Wednesday quarterly profit rose 23 percent, boosted by strong demand from the aviation and commercial construction markets, and affirmed its 2008 outlook.
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IBM , the world&#39;s largest  technology services company, on Wednesday posted a higher  quarterly profit as revenue rose 9 percent, helped by  software-company acquisitions and growth in computer services.
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IBM  reported  better-than-expected preliminary quarterly results on Monday on  strong performances in Asia, Europe and emerging markets,  driving its shares up 10 percent and spurring a broader tech  rally.
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- IBM said on Monday that third-quarter profit, excluding a pension-related charge, rose 12 percent from a year ago and slightly beat expectations, as the world&#39;s largest computer company boosted sales of everything from servers to
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The companyâs strong quarterly results and optimistic outlook suggests that a weakening economy will not slow it down.