Article Abstract:
IBM posted a 1992 1st qtr operating profit of $595 million, causing its stock price to climb 75 cents a share to $88.25. The $1.04 per share profit is seven percent higher than operating profits in the 1991 period. In 1991 IBM posted a loss of $1.71 billion, or $2.99 a share, caused by a change in accounting methods that necessitated a $2.26 billion charge for retirement benefits. The increase is attributed mostly to IBM's considerable efforts at cost-cutting; the company cut employment by 7,000 in the 1st qtr, and is expected to reach its projected 1992 goal of eliminating 20,000 jobs. There was also a slight rise of 10 percent in domestic sales. IBM did not fare so well overseas, as foreign sales remained flat. In addition, IBM experienced a slight decline in hardware sales in the quarter. Sales of personal computers, workstations and minicomputers all showed modest rises in sales. IBM faces a tough market, as rival companies start shipping higher volumes of competitive machines.
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Article Abstract:
IBM will post 1st qtr earnings of $1.04 billion, an increase of 9.2 percent over the same quarter in 1989. Revenue increased to $14.19 billion from $12.73 billion. Shareholder earnings will be $1.81 a share. IBM's experienced double-digit revenue increases in a sluggish US market. Mainframe and high-end disk drive sales were expected to increase over last year, when manufacturing problems limited sales in those areas. Although IBM expresses encouragement with its 1st qtr results and stock rose $3.75 upon the announcement, industry analysts still believe that IBM has to post similar success for the subsequent three 1990 quarters in order to be considered 'out of the woods.'
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Article Abstract:
Fujitsu Ltd will invest $40.2 million in Hal Computer Systems Inc, a start-up computer manufacturer begun by Andy Heller, the well-known computer industry personality. Heller's company will make computers that range from workstations to superminicomputers. The machines will use Sun Microsystems' SPARC processors and will run UNIX. According to Heller, Hal Computer will use its own faster version of the SPARC chip and will include software features to simplify UNIX for data processing managers. Even so, Heller's company faces a problematic future: the cost of money is high, and the hardware markets are saturated.
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