IBM on Thursday reported earnings and revenues that were better than most analysts expected for the second consecutive quarter.
But the computer giant known as Big Blue urged Wall Street to interpret the report as an indication of its strength, not a general rebound in technology spending.
IBM said it had been gaining market share in its major businesses, even those for which actual revenues had been flat or down.
The company, based in Armonk, New York, said demand for new information technology products and services was no longer falling among its customers but it did not expect an increase any time soon.
"We're hoping we'll start to see a little bit of an uptick in the second half," said John R. Joyce, IBM's chief financial officer.
IBM's total revenues from its continuing operations climbed to US$23.68 billion in the quarter, up 7 percent from US$22.14 billion the same quarter a year ago.
But analysts said the figures needed to be viewed through the lens of a strong dollar, which inflated the value of sales overseas, and the impact of the addition of services employees when the company acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting.
"You're looking at flat to modestly down growth if you strip out currency and PwC," said A.M. Sacconaghi Jr, who follows IBM for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company.
IBM shares, which had fallen US$1.54 to US$86.05 in trading before the earnings were released at the close of trading, fell as low as US$84 in early after-hours trading.
IBM said that it earned just under US$1.02 billion in the quarter, or 59 cents per diluted share, down more than 56 percent from the same period a year ago.
Excluding the disk drive business that IBM sold to Hitachi on Dec. 31 for US$1.8 billion, IBM had a net income of US$1.91 billion from its continuing operations, or US$1.11 a share, down 25.5 percent from a year ago.
That figure included a charge of 23 cents a share reflecting adjustments to reserves previously set aside for restructuring and the US$614 million that IBM said it spent integrating the consulting business acquired from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Including the 23 cents, IBM earned US$1.34 a share in the quarter, 4 cents ahead of the Wall Street consensus.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)