IBM Sales Expected to Meet Forecast

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is likely to meet revenue expectations when it announces its Q2 earnings later today, and may even beat expectations on earnings per share.
A weakening U.S. dollar will provide a boost to revenues for the second quarter and the rest of the year, says Bernstein Research in a report previewing IBM’s earnings. Other factors may also be at play.

“Our channel checks indicate that IT spending appears to have largely stabilized during Q2 in the U.S., although spending in Europe was more choppy,” writes senior analyst Toni Sacconaghi in the Bernstein report.  

And while Bernstein’s discussions with CIOs indicate that IT budgets won’t loosen up in 2009, the stage is set for a material recovery in 2010. That echoes recent sentiments from other technology giants such as Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.

Bernstein expects IBM to announce revenues of $23.6 billion, up from $23.4 billion from the same period a year ago and in line with consensus estimates. The firm expects IBM earnings per share of $2.07, above the consensus estimate of $2.02.

“In Q2 2009 IBM should benefit from previous workforce reduction actions, lower shared service cost and lower share count to help offset lower revenues,” Sacconaghi writes.

Intel reported stronger than expected revenues and earnings earlier this week.