IBM shares jump on raised outlook

IBM Corp. told Wall Street to raise its 2008 estimates, further boosting a stock that was already buoyed by strong fourth-quarter earnings.

IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said earnings would be $8.20 to $8.30 a share in 2008. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting $7.94 in 2008.

Investors responded by bidding IBM shares up 5% to $106.20 after hours. Before the earnings report, the stock had fallen 53 cents to close at $101.10.

In the last three months of 2007, IBM earned $3.95 billion, or $2.80 a share, on revenue of $28.9 billion. Profit rose 12% from the year-earlier period, when Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM made $3.54 billion, or 2.31 a share, on revenue of $26.3 billion.

That 10% revenue gain would have been 4% if not for weakness in the dollar. Payments in other currencies now translate into more dollars.