IBM saw fourth-quarter profits rise 9
percent on the strength of systems, software and growth markets.
Announcing its fourth-quarter 2010 earnings on Jan. 18, IBM
said fourth-quarter net income was $5.3 billion, compared with $4.8 billion in
the fourth quarter of 2009, an increase of 9 percent. Total revenues for the
fourth quarter of 2010 of $29.0 billion — increased 7 percent from the fourth
quarter of 2009.
"We completed an outstanding year, with record profit and free cash
flow, and exceeded the high end of our 2010 earnings per share roadmap
objective," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM
chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "We also
capped a decade in which our shift to high-value businesses, our global
integration of IBM, our investment in
research and development of almost $60 billion and our acquisition of 116
companies have helped us to nearly triple our EPS and return more than $100
billion to shareholders.
"As IBM enters its second century,
we will continue to focus on our long-term strategic initiatives — growth
markets, Smarter Planet Solutions, cloud and business analytics — as we drive to
achieve our new roadmap target of operating earnings per share of at least $20
in 2015."
During a call with analysts to discuss IBM’s
earnings, Mark Loughridge, senior vice president and chief financial officer of
Finance and Enterprise Transformation at IBM, said, "Systems
and Technology had fantastic performance, with 21 percent growth. We had growth
in every platform, but the most impressive growth was in our System z
mainframes, which were up almost 70 percent."
For more, read the eWeek article: IBM’s Q4 2010 Profits Driven by Hardware, Software, Growth Markets.