IBM reports Q1 net income bump of 7 percent, but overall revenue flat

IBM’s first quarter results for 2012 were decidedly mixed: It saw a 7 percent increase in net income, but its revenues were flat, the company reported this afternoon.

Net income for the Q1 was $3.1 billion compared with $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2011, a gain of 7 percent. Non-GAAP net income hit $3.3 billion compared with $3.0 billion in the year-before period, an increase of 9 percent. Total revenue for the first quarter was $24.7 billion, which is up just 1 percent from a year before.

“In the first quarter, we drove strong profit and earnings per share growth,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM president and CEO, in a statement. “We delivered another excellent software performance, expanded services margins, and continued the momentum in our growth initiatives. Our investments in growth market countries continued to generate strong revenue growth across software, hardware, and services while contributing to the company’s ongoing margin expansion. Based on this performance, we are raising our 2012 full-year operating earnings per share expectations to at least $15.”

In terms of geographic performance with revenue, the Americas region brought in $10.5 billion, an increase of 1 percent. By contrast, Europe/Middle East/Africa earned $7.6 billion, down 2 percent, while Asia-Pacific revenues increased 4 percent to $6.1 billion.

The company’s self-identified “growth markets” increased in revenue by 9 percent, and 40 countries had double-digit revenue growth. Revenues from Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) increased 10 percent.

Investors were not cheerful about the results, with IBM’s shares on the NYSE dropping more than 2 percent in after-hours trading. The stock is hovering around $202.60 as of this writing.

IBM photo: Kansir/Flickr