In I.B.M. Posts Strong Preliminary Results 4Q results are up 18% from a year ago, largely due to the a weaker dollar.
"…IBM said the weaker dollar helped to push revenue up 10 percent."
"…International Business Machines Corp. said revenue grew 10 percent from the year-ago period, with 6 points of that growth related to the weaker dollar."
At the heart of it, Global companies, like IBM, can hedge their bets by investing all over the world (some part of the world can be doing better than others, like our own part of the world, the United States, which is moving towards or in Recession).
"…The broad scope of IBM's global business — led by strong operational performance in Asia, Europe and emerging countries — drove these outstanding results,'' said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive.
For fiscal 2007, IBM reported earnings rose 18 percent to $7.18 per share, including a 5-cent gain on the sale of its printing systems division in the second quarter, on sales of $98.8 billion, representing 8 percent growth year-over-year."
I suppose, it can be said Global companies don't have put all their eggs in any one basket, which is why they can prosper in situations like the one we're in now. Notice, however, not one word about operations in this country; and I have to wonder what the loyalty of a company that is so global - do they still layoff people here, because US operations aren't doing as well, or do they use that Global Profit (surplus) to bolster US Operations?
I suppose, the same argument can be made for the United States - the dollar is very weak, yet due to it's inherit weakness, more tourists (record number of tourists in New York - just read about it this morning), more foreigners investing in US Properties, helps to keep the service economy running.
It's hard to say anything is fully good or bad, it all depends on where you sit.
