Reuters: Global Markets: IBM second quarter EPS beats Street, revenue falls short

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IBM second quarter EPS beats Street, revenue falls short Jul 18th 2012, 20:57 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Instant View: IBM hikes 2012 outlook, Qualcomm misses; eBay keeps forecast 4:57pm EDT Analysis & Opinion Beware â€Å"blame China” earnings phenomenon Should Goldman Sachs go out of business? Related Topics Tech » Hot Stocks » Asian Markets » A worker is pictured behind a logo at the IBM stand on the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover February 26, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Tobias Schwarz Wed Jul 18, 2012 4:57pm EDT (Reuters) - IBM raised its full-year earnings target despite a shortfall in revenue after a currency hit of $1 billion, easing concerns that the company would echo industry warnings on softer tech spending. International Business Machines Corp, which has been shifting its focus from hardware to higher-margin services and software over the past decade, said on Wednesday it now expects full-year earnings per share - excluding items - of at least $15.10 versus at least $15.00 previously. It said in the second-quarter earnings per share, excluding items, was $3.51, beating average analysts' estimate of $3.43. Revenue fell 3 percent to $25.8 billion from the year-ago period and missed average expectations of $26.27 billion. A number of companies such as Cisco Systems Inc have cautioned that tech spending may slow down in the second half of 2012 and companies such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc have warned that earnings would suffer. (For graphic: U.S. tech companies since July 2 link.reuters.com/rew39s) "It's very nice that they beat expectations on earnings," said Richard Sichel," Chief Investment Officer at Philadelphia Trust Co. "I would say that's really what investors are looking for. You get a very credible forecast this way and what they said was more positive than how people have been feeling." IBM shares have fallen 11 percent in the three months since it reported a quarterly revenue shortfall when it last released earnings. Those results raised concerns among some investors that the stock had gotten ahead of itself after hitting a record high of $210.69 on April 3. The broader Nasdaq composite index has fallen 4 percent over the past three months. (Reporting by Nicola Leske; Additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Richard Chang) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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