IBM on Wednesday moved to shore up its sliding share price by announcing better-than-expected third-quarter profits and reaffirming its forecast for the full year.
The surprise move, which came a week before the company’s scheduled earnings release, sent shares in the world’s second-biggest IT company up 3.8 per cent in after-hours trading.
IBM had closed at a two-year low of $90.55, down 5 per cent on the day.
Shares in the company had fallen 5 per cent on Tuesday after a Barclays Capital analyst lowered his estimates due to the weakening economy and IBM’s “large exposure to financial services”.
IBM on Wednesday said that it had made a net profit of $2.8bn, or $2.05 per share, in the third quarter, up 20 per cent from a year earlier and better than many Wall Street analysts had expected.
Sales were $25.3bn, an improvement of 5 per cent over last time, although part of that improvement was due to currency movements.
IBM said it expected full-year earnings of $8.75 per share, in line with previous estimates.
“We remain confident in our full-year outlook,” Samuel Palmisano, chief executive, said.
No comments:
Post a Comment