IBM's Profits Spark A Sell Off
Thursday, January 18, 2007SUSIE GHARIB: A tech sell off on Wall Street today. The NASDAQ tumbled 36 points or 1.5 percent led by a big drop in shares of Apple. And the selling continued after the bell. Shares of IBM fell almost $6 or nearly 6 percent, even though big blue reported solid quarterly earnings and revenues. Excluding charges, IBM earned $2.26 a share in its fourth quarter, $0.07 more than analyst estimates and a 12 percent increase over last year. Revenues jumped 7 percent to $26.3 billion, also stronger than Wall Street forecasts.
The company benefited from several software acquisitions and big services contracts. CEO Sam Palmisano said IBM is quote, well-positioned in the growth areas of a changing IT industry, end quote. But while software was solid, IBM's hardware sales were sluggish and that raised concerns that sparked the after hours sell off in the stock.
