by Tom Taulli | October 31, 2012 10:32 am
[1]When IBM (NYSE:IBM[2]) reported its third-quarter earnings a couple weeks ago, the results were miserable. Since then, the shares are off almost 9%. Other mega techs like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC[3]) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG[4]) also had similar moves.
Today, though, IBM provided some much-needed support when it announced[5] that it added $5 billion to its stock buyback program. In all, $11.7 billion are available for purchases, which represents about 5% of the outstanding shares.
Plus, IBM tends to follow-through on its buybacks. It purchased roughly $3 billion in stock for the past two quarters.
Still, this does not necessarily mean that the company will use up all the purchasing power. And while the $5 billion buyback plan is encouraging, it is still not enough. In early trading, IBM’s shares are up only about 0.5% to $194.32.
In other words, investors want to see some signs that the company is once again getting traction with revenue growth.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook[6], a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook.[7]” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli[8]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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