IBM Beats Forecasts
by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 15, 2009 at 2:37 PM PT
IBM continues to be one of the econalypse’s success stories. This afternoon, the company beat analyst expectations, posting a third-quarter profit of $3.2 billion, or $2.40 a share, on revenue of $23.6 billion. Net income was $3.2 billion, up 14 percent from year-ago earnings of $2.8 billion. Analysts were calling for IBM to report earnings on $2.38 per share on revenue of $23.4 billion.
Looking ahead, IBM (IBM) expects full-year 2009 earnings of at least $9.85 a share, compared to its previous estimate of $9.70 per share.
“Our long-term strategic shift to higher-value businesses again enabled us to deliver outstanding margin, earnings and cash flow growth in the third quarter,” IBM CEO Sam Palmisano said in an earnings release. “We also saw improved revenue trends in our business and share gains in software and hardware. We continued to invest for growth in areas where clients see potential for value creation including Smarter Planet solutions, cloud computing and advanced business analytics.”
Looking ahead, Palmisano added, “We are optimistic about 2009 as we again raise our full-year expectations and we remain well ahead of pace for our 2010 roadmap of $10 to $11 per share.”
Taken together with Intel’s (INTC) latest earnings, which also beat expectations for revenue and profit, IBM’s report provides more evidence that the tech sector recovery is underway.
