IBM Net Rises 28%, Beating Expectations
International Business Machines Corp. reported fourth-quarter earnings rose 28%, topping analysts' forecasts in a standout performance that ran counter to gloomy warnings from other companies that sell large-scale computer systems.</br></br>Revenue grew 6%, matching or bettering many forecasts.</br></br>IBM was among the rare few big computer makers and technology companies that hadn't issued an earnings warning about results for the December quarter. And, it didn't back away from this year's numbers, either.</br></br>John Jones, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney said IBM is somewhat insulated from economic turns, because "about 40% of their revenues are in backlog" from long-term software and service contracts. But he said he was surprised by the hardware growth.</br></br>John R. Joyce, chief financial officer said the U.S. market is volatile but "based on everything we know, we remain comfortable with consensus estimates for 2001." Analysts forecast 2001 earnings per share of $4.99, up 12% according to First Call.