Ibm Bucks Trend, Reports Big Profit

IBM, finishing its best year since 1990, reported a 42 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit Thursday and gave a more upbeat near-term outlook than other technology firms.

While International Business Machines Corp. said it will be hard to duplicate its 1995 growth this year, most of its operations are performing well. IBM executives said laptop personal computers, minicomputers and data storage systems are targets for improvement.

The company earned $1.7 billion, or $3.09 per share, in the quarter that ended Dec. 31. It earned $1.2 billion, or $2.06 per share, in the same three-month period in 1994.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $21.9 billion from $19.9 billion.

IBM took a $663 million pre-tax charge in the quarter, which included the expense of about 1,200 job cuts, and a $37 million charge to reflect the reduced value of some software.

The charges were offset somewhat by a pre-tax gain of $175 million related to a 1994 subsidiary sale.

Without the charges, IBM would have earned $2 billion, or $3.66 per share. Wall Street analysts had forecast a profit of $3.63 per share, excluding the charges.

“Our fundamental strategies are working,” IBM chief executive Louis V. Gerstner Jr. said in a statement.

In another earnings report Thursday:

Seafirst Corp., Washington’s largest bank, reported fourth-quarter net income of $96.6 million, a 20.9 percent increase from the same quarter of 1994, when it was $79.9 million.

Net interest income was $216.7 million for the fourth quarter of 1995, compared with $195.1 million a year ago. Non-interest income increased to $108 million from $92.8 million a year ago.

For the year, the BankAmerica subsidiary reported record net income of $356.9 million, up $42.7 million from 1994’s net income of $314.2 million.

“Seafirst’s strong show of profit was a direct result of an improved economy and increased loans by the commercial and consumer sectors,” said John Rindlaub, Seafirst’s chairman and chief executive officer.

But he noted that loan activity in Spokane and the Tri-Cities slowed in the second half of the year.

Growth in the Interstate 5 corridor will likely continued to outstrip that east of the Cascade Mountains, he said.