International Business Machine Corp. (IBM) announced a series of new software and services, aiming to support advanced systems engineering and software development. These services are primarily focused on integrating software development in a cost effective manner and within a flexible environment.
The new initiatives include integrated product management that comprises over 30 products and services from the IBM Rational product portfolio. These are designed to help customers manage the entire software development and integration process by increasing speed and reducing costs and risks.
The company supports its customers by providing them a flexible and affordable software development environment. The new token and licensing models developed by IBM helps software developers access the right software according to the need of the project. Moreover, through this model the company also allows product usage over a given period of time, making the development process hassle free.
The company released Rational Software Delivery Services for IBM Cloudburst. IBM Cloudburst is a smart business system that simplifies cloud computing process by accelerating the creation of service platforms for all types of user-friendly workloads with a high degree of integration, flexibility, and resource optimization.
The Rational Software Delivery Services is expected to accelerate the transformation of software from the cloud across multiple platforms.
The company announced Industry Frameworks services aimed at solving industry-specific problems and providing a competitive leverage to its customers through product differentiation. The IBM Rational software is adding new products and services in different verticals based on this platform to improve collaboration.
The company also unveiled a free-of-cost software library known as Integrated Service Management Library. This contains 1,800 software accelerators related to 14 industries.
IBM intends to establish an open source project on Eclipse.org for the EGL technology.
EGL, a business programming language, is designed for developing portable, cross-platform applications and services and is easily compiled into popular languages available in the market. By using EGL, the company provides a less costly and more modern tools to its customers.
Based on a diversified business model, and strong products and services, the company expects to earn $20.00 per share by 2015. We believe IBM’s continued focus on developing its middleware franchise and growing margins will boost earnings going forward.
The company posted strong results in the first-quarter of 2010, with revenue increasing 5.0% year-over-year and earnings per share increasing 16.0% year over year.
For full-year 2010, IBM expects earnings per share of at least $11.20. However, the Zacks Consensus Estimate calls for earnings of $11.26 per share for the full year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the second-quarter of 2010 is earnings of $2.57 per share.
Although IBM has an enviable portfolio of products and services, the company faces stiff competition from Hewlett Packard (HPQ), Accenture Plc. (ACN), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), VMware Inc. (VMW), Google Inc. (GOOG) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in most of its markets. We have a neutral recommendation on the stock.
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