IBM raises guidance, profit blows past forecasts

summer123

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/IB ... .html?x=0&.v=14

BM said profit in the latest quarter, which ended June 30, rose 12 percent to $3.1 billion, or $2.32 per share. Analysts expected $2.02 per share.

Meanwhile, sales dropped 13 percent to $23.25 billion, lower than the $23.59 billion predicted by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Sales would have been down 7 percent without currency fluctuations.

"We are optimistic about how IBM is positioned to make the most of current growth opportunities as well as those that emerge as the economy recovers," IBM's chairman and chief executive, Sam Palmisano, said in a statement.

Shares of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM rose $1.63, 1.5 percent, to $112.27 in extended trading after the earnings report. The stock had closed regular trading at $110.64, up 3.2 percent on the day.

mary666

IBM always beat. Who knows.