Sailing slowly but smoothly through the stormy seas that have buffeted other technology companies recently, IBM Corp said its earnings increased more than 6 per cent in the third quarter.
IBM earned $1.36 billion, up from $1.28 billion a year earlier.
'The good news is there wasn't bad news,' said Steven Milunovich, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. 'They met my earnings number and I didn't expect they would.' IBM's size and global reach, which keep it from growing as rapidly as smaller high technology companies, insulated it from the drop in demand that has hurt its competitors.
Yet the strength of the dollar was a drag on IBM, which makes 60 per cent of its sales outside the United States.
The company's total revenue grew by 3 per cent from a year earlier, to $18.6 billion. Measured in local currency to eliminate the effect of the rising dollar, IBM's revenue increased by 8 per cent. That is in keeping with the company's goal of increasing its revenue 'in the high single digits'.
Revenue in the company's hardware business, still its largest source of revenue, was flat at $8.3 billion. Sales of personal computers to consumers fell because IBM products do not sell for less than $1,000, the top segment of the consumer market.