IBM raises its outlook

Article Excerpt

IBM $131.27 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $165.6 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.0%) earned $3.4 billion in the three months ended June 30, 2010. That’s up 9.1% from $3.1 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 12.5%, to $2.61 from $2.32, on fewer shares outstanding. The latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $2.58 a share. Revenue rose 2.0% in the quarter, to $23.7 billion from $23.3 billion. Despite the increase, the latest quarterly revenue fell short of the consensus estimate of $24.2 billion. That’s because IBM gets about two-thirds of its revenue from overseas customers, and the higher U.S. dollar cut their contribution by $500 million. IBM expects demand to continue rising. It also plans to launch new products. That prompted it to raise its forecast 2010 earnings per share by 0.4%, to $11.25 from $11.20. The stock trades at 11.7 times the new estimate. IBM is still a buy. buy…