IBM’s Q4 Revenue Up 2 Percent To $29.5B; Net Income Up 4 Percent To $5.5B

IBM just released fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011 earnings today. Non-GAAP earnings came in at $4.71, up 11 percent; GAAP earnings per share were $4.62 per share (up 11 percent) for the quarter. Net income for the quarter was $5.5 billion, up 4 percent for the quarter, with revenue coming in at $29.5 billion, up 2 percent from the previous year. Analysts expected earnings of $4.62 a share on revenue of $29.7 billion. So basically, sales missed but profits beat expectations.

Revenues from the Software segment were $7.6 billion, an increase of 9 percent. But revenues from IBM’s hardware systems and technology segment totaled $5.8 billion for the quarter, down 8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.

“We had a strong fourth-quarter performance, capping a year of record earnings per share, revenue, profit and free cash flow,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM president and chief executive officer. “We delivered outstanding results in all four of our strategic initiatives for the quarter and the year, as we continued to realize the benefit of our long-term investments in growth markets, business analytics, Smarter Planet solutions and cloud. We are well on track toward our long-term roadmap for operating earnings per share of at least $20 in 2015.”

Net income for 2011 in total was $15.9 billion compared with $14.8 billion in the year-ago period, an increase of 7 percent. Revenues were $106.9 billion, an increase of 7 percent, compared with $99.9 billion in 2010.

Quarterly revenues from the company’s growth markets increased 7 percent and tevenues in the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — increased 10 percent, says IBM. The company ended 2011 with $11.9 billion of cash on hand.

In the fourth quarter, IBM named Rometty as the company’s new CEO and president, replacing Samuel J. Palmisano, who remained as chairman of the board. The company’s fourth quarter acquisitions included DemandTec, and Emptoris.