IBM posts double-digit growth of revenue and earnings

Armonk (NY) - Big Blue joined the general trend of increasing revenues and earnings, painting signs of of a recovering industry on the horizon.

The company met analyst expectations and reported net income for the first fiscal quarter 2004 of $1.6 billion, or 93 cents a share, and revenue of $22.2 billion. During the same quarter last year, IBM earned $1.4 billion, or 79 cents a share, on revenue of $20.1 billion.

First-quarter revenue growth of 11 percent, largely attrributed to beneficial currency moves. IBM also noted strong demand for servers (plus 16 percent) and software (plus 11 percent).

IBM’s cash position rose from $2.9 billion to $8.5 billion.