IBM Beats Estimates, Shares Jump (IBM)

Shares of International Business Machines IBM are popping in the after-hours trade after the company beat the Street's EPS and revenues estimates. Shares are highly by 2.40%, trading at $154.27. IBM reported Q1 EPS of $4.18 on revenues of $29.02 billion; this compares to the Street's estimates for $4.08 per share on revenues of $28.26 billion. The company also backed its FY 2011 guidance, as well as 2015 road map. Revenue in the Americas, IBM's biggest market, grew 9%. Total sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa rose 4% excluding currency impacts, while total revenue grew 7% in Asia when adjusted for currency. "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. "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." International Business Machines Corporation is an information technology company. The company operates under five segments: the Global Technology Services segment; the Global Business Services segment; the Software segment; the Systems and Technology segment, and the Global Financing segment.