IBM Earnings Slump 22.8%, Less Than Expected : Chief Gives Most Upbeat Assessment of Firm’s Prospects in More Than a Year

International Business Machines on Monday reported a 22.8% decline in its first-quarter profit, but the results were better than expected.

IBM earned $785 million in the first three months of 1987, down from $1.02 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.5% to $10.68 billion from $10.13 billion.

IBM’s profit fell in both 1985 and 1986, marking its first back-to-back earnings declines since the Depression.

The company has blamed its problems principally on disappointing sales in mid-range computers and flat personal computer sales.

IBM stock climbed $2.625 a share to $147.625 in consolidated New York Stock Exchange trading, defying a late plunge in the market that sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 51.71.

The world’s largest computer company gave its most optimistic assessment of its business in more than a year.

“Although the worldwide economic situation remains unsettled, there are some encouraging signs in our business. In addition to the increase in first-quarter shipments, we have announced new offerings in our large processor and personal computing product lines, and have moved forward availability of the mid-range 9370 system,” IBM’s chairman and chief executive, John F. Akers, said in a news release.

“This has very much of an upbeat tone to it,” said Ulric Weil, a Washington-based computer industry analyst. “The fact that IBM is more optimistic is good for the industry as a whole.”

One surprise to analysts was that customers flocked to buy IBM’s big and highly profitable 3090 mainframe computers after IBM announced enhancements, according to Weil.

The lower value of the dollar, which makes U.S.-made products more competitive and increases the dollar value of foreign profits, improved profit by $95 million and revenue by $680 million compared to the year-earlier period, IBM officials reported.