Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, July 20, 2012

Article Excerpt

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP., $192.45, New York symbol IBM, reported higher-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter. It also raised its earnings forecast for all of 2012. That’s why the stock rose 3% this week. In the three months ended June 30, 2012, the company earned $3.9 billion. That’s up 5.9% from $3.7 billion a year earlier. IBM spent $3.0 billion on share buybacks in the latest quarter. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 11.3%, to $3.34 from $3.00. Without unusual items, mainly costs to integrate recently purchased companies, IBM’s earnings per share would have risen 13.6%, to $3.51 from $3.09. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $3.43 a share. The company continues to do a good job of controlling its costs; that was the main reason for the higher earnings. Revenue fell 3.3%, to $25.8 billion from $26.7 billion. That fell short of the consensus estimate of $26.3 billion. The uncertain global economy is hurting…