EARNINGS ROUNDUP

IBM Corp.’s first-quarter results slipped as all its major business units suffered declines, but the company backed its bullish outlook for 2009, reflecting its belief that a broad mix of services and software would help it weather the recession.

The Armonk, N.Y., company’s profit beat Wall Street’s forecast, but sales fell short. The stock fell 2.2% in after-hours trading.

IBM reported after the market closed that that its profit was $2.30 billion, or $1.70 a share. That beat the $1.66 analysts were expecting.

In the same period last year, IBM earned $2.32 billion, or $1.64 a share.

Sales fell 11% to $21.7 billion, short of the $22.5 billion analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting. IBM said the revenue drop would have been 4% were it not for the effects of a strengthening dollar.

The company reiterated its previous guidance for earnings of $9.20 a share in 2009.

The earnings report came on the same day that longtime rival Sun Microsystems Inc., which had recently been in talks to be bought by IBM, announced a $7.4-billion deal with Oracle Corp.

IBM shares slipped 84 cents to $100.43.

The company pointed to its better profit margins in services and software, which together contribute more than 80% of IBM’s revenue. IBM is banking on strength in those areas, which can be successful in a downturn by helping companies save money, to offset steep declines in servers and other hardware.