By Jeff Diamond - IBM beat estimates! What a surprise... Not! I haven't been counting, but Bloomberg just announced that this was the 17th quarter in a row that IBM has "surprised" to the upside! Sweet! I wonder how they surprised this time? Did they cut their pension contribution again? Maybe a few acquisitions or a lowered tax rate? Oh, or maybe a favorable FX conversion? IBM has got more tricks up its sleeve than a Las Vegas magician.
Nothing much has changed on Wall Street. Enjoy the rally while it lasts, but as we have seen in the past these games have mostly lead to tears, and no one ever sees it coming!
July 17th UPDATE - So, riddle me this: How does earnings-per-share at IBM rise 18 percent year-over-year while revenues fall 13 percent during the same period??? I don't know the answer, but with the stock closing up over 4 percent on the day the market doesn't seem to mind. Clearly, IBM does possess a very powerful potion!
