IBM Corp. (IBM) posted a positive earnings report after the bell Tuesday. For the company’s 4th quarter of 2009, its $3.59 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.47 by 12 cents, and was up 10% year over year.
Quarterly revenue of $27.2 billion was essentially flat from the year-earlier level (up 0.8%), but down 5% if we exclude the impact of exchange rates. Quarterly gross margin of 48.3% was up from 47.9% from the year-earlier period.
For the full-year 2009, earnings of $10.01 per share were up 13% year over year, and net income of $13.4 billion rose 9% from fiscal year 2008 totals. Both figures also happen to be record numbers for IBM. For fiscal year 2010, the company now expects earnings of at least $11 per share, up from a previously expected $10-11 per share range.
Analysts covering IBM had been standing pat in their earnings estimates over the past month. There had been no movement either way in earnings estimate revisions from any of the 19 analysts covering the company.
It is not particularly surprising to see IBM beat estimates; the company has averaged a 6+% positive earnings surprise over the previous 4 quarters. IBM shares before the bell had been up 1.76% on an up-day overall in the market. But since the earnings announcement, shares have given back all of today’s gains and then some.
We will go into more detail about the market’s reaction to these numbers tomorrow, as well as more in-depth analysis on the numbers themselves.
Read the full analyst report on “IBM”
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