Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, April 21, 2011

Article Excerpt

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, April 29, 2011. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $168.28, New York symbol IBM, reported higher-than-expected earnings this week. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, IBM’s earnings rose 10.1%, to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 17.3%, to $2.31 from $1.97, on fewer shares outstanding. Excluding one-time items, such as costs related to acquisitions, IBM earned $2.41 a share. On that basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $2.29. Revenue rose 7.7%, to $24.6 billion from $22.9 billion a year earlier. That was higher than the consensus revenue estimate of $24.0 billion. Revenue from growth markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, jumped 18%. IBM now gets 21% of its revenue from growth markets. The company is also seeing strong demand for its new System Z mainframe computer. However, the value of new service contracts fell 14% in the quarter, to $10.5 billion. That…