Article Abstract:
IBM's 2nd qtr 1996 profits declined less than industry analysts expected and the company expects its business to improve in the last half of the year. IBM's stock prices rose almost 13 percent on the news, inspiring a rally in the stock market. IBM stock closed at $103.625 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company reported net earnings of $1.3 billion, or $2.15 per share, for the quarter. This compares with $1.7 billion in earnings, or $2.97 per share, for 1995's same quarter. Revenue increased 4 percent to $18.2 billion compared with last year's same period. Some analysts say the quarterly results look better than they actually are because IBM took a charge of just $80 million from expense reductions in Europe, instead of the $200 million the industry expected. Increases in the strength of the Japanese yen reduced IBM's earnings by 35 cents per share. The company's computer division had its strongest quarter in recent years.
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Article Abstract:
IBM is reporting record earnings for its 1st qtr 1995 after surprisingly high revenues from product sales and service business, surprising analysts who had predicted much lower numbers. Net income was about $1.3 billion or $2.12 per share compared to $366 million or 54 cents per share for the same period in the previous year. The positive results boosted the reputation of IBM CEO Lou Gerstner, who was brought into the company in 1993 to turn it around. IBM reported a profit in 1994 for the first time since 1990 and the stock price has almost doubled. IBM's share price increased more than $3 after its latest financial results were released. IBM officials are being careful to play down expectations because they do not expect the company to be able to retain this growth rate.
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Article Abstract:
IBM's 1st qtr 1997 earnings were essentially flat but the company reported per-share earnings that exceeded the expectations of Wall Street. The company's revenue grew 4.5%, up to $17.5 billion. IBM earned $1.195 billion during the quarter, up from the $774 billion earned in 1st qtr 1996 by 54%. As has been true in recent years, most of the growth was in services and personal computers, two of the company's least profitable areas of businesses. Conversely, sales of IBM's more profitable products, mainframes and other high-end computers, were weak during the fiscal period. As a result, IBM saw its profit margins drop by 38% during the quarter. Hardware sales were anemic, coming in at less than 1% overall.
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