IBM: 4Q08 Results are Out & Strong!

IBM has had a very impressive year 2008. The corporation's Senior Vice President & CFO Mark Loughridge discussed the 4Q08 earnings yesterday evening at the corporation's headquarters in Armonk, NY.

In a year like this, when the world has been facing enormous and growing economic challenges and uncertainties, IBM has shown some record figures in the reports. Here are some of the highlights of the full-year 2008 -

• Record revenue of $103.6 billion;
• Record pre-tax profit of $16.7 billion;
• Record earnings per share of $8.93;
• Record free cash flow of $14.3 billion, up $1.9 billion, excluding Global Financing receivables

In just the fourth quarter, IBM has again shown a good increase of 17% in diluted earnings and 12% increase in income. Here are some of the highlights of the forth-quarter results -

• Diluted earnings of $3.28 per share, up 17 percent;
• Net income of $4.4 billion, up 12 percent;
• Gross profit margin of 47.9 percent, up 3 points;
• Revenue of $27.0 billion, impacted by strong U.S. dollar, down 6 percent, down 1 percent adjusting for currency;
• Software revenues up 3 percent, up 9 percent adjusting for currency; pre-tax income up 15 percent;
• Global Technology Services revenue down 4 percent, up 3 percent adjusting for currency; pre-tax income up 35 percent;
• Global Business Services revenues down 5 percent, flat adjusting for currency; pre-tax income up 26 percent;
• Services signings of $17.2 billion, 24 deals greater than $100 million;
• Strategic outsourcing signings up 20 percent worldwide, up 44 percent in North America.

A strong fourth quarter capped an outstanding year. In 2008 IBM performed well in an extremely difficult economic environment. Clearly our strategic transformation --- migrating to the more profitable segments of the industry, investing in growth regions of the world, and driving productivity through global integration --- is continuing to pay dividends
- Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer

With such extremely good results, we can expect more from IBM in the year 2009. No doubt that the current economic climate has made things more challenging. But not to forget that opportunities lie in challenges - The smarter ones take a major portion of the apple pie!

Some quick links:
IBM 4Q08 Earnings Presentation webcast - http://www.ibm.com/investor/4q08/#
IBM 4Q08 Earnings Presentation MP3 - http://ibmvancouv1.download.akamai.com.edgesuite.net/podcasts/2009/ir4q08.mp3
IBM 4Q08 Earnings Press Release - http://www.ibm.com/investor/4q08/press.phtml