Deconstructing and Rebuilding IBM’s Q4 Server Sales
February 9, 2009 Timothy Prickett Morgan
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Well, it seems that I am not the only one who plays around with the limited amount of information that IBM gives to Wall Street analysts. As I said last week, when I tore apart IBM’s numbers from the fourth quarter and then tried to put them together as revenue streams, not percent changes, this game is more fun when lots of people play. Maybe we can use Newton’s Method of Approximation across a large group of people making estimates as a means of getting to the truth. (The wisdom of crowds, after all, can guess the number of jelly beans in a jar with surprising accuracy despite a wide variation in individual guesses, or plot a course through a maze in the smallest possible steps, among other things.) To do that, though, more people have to play the game. Each quarter, as I do this story, I invariably get a few emails from private equity firms or other financial industry players who want to bend my ear about my numbers and what they may or may not mean. But I also got one email from a reader last week who wanted to play the IBM Server Sales Guessing Game. Here’s his take: Hey, TPM: I, too, track System and Technology product revenues–largely using historical relative (percent) gain and loss data to create enough equations to back out the actuals–along with the occasional random tidbit offered up by someone at Big Blue. In any event, I think my numbers differ from yours, but still thought I might share mine, having enjoyed and benefited greatly from your remarks. For 4Q08, my guestimates are:
In Q407, my figure for p plus i was $2.064 billion. Thus, I believe in 4Q08 p plus i was down over 19 percent. Also the game of propping up p revenues by “consolidating” i revenues is effectively over. Cheers. –Bob RELATED STORIES IBM Closes 2008 on a High, i Sales Unclear IBM’s Q3 in Servers, Redux: The i and p Platforms Do OK Some Servers Take a Dive in IBM’s Third Quarter IBM Tries to Reassure Wall Street It Is Still Making Money Don’t Sell IBM Short–And Uncle Sam Means It IBM’s Q2 Server Sales: Let’s Do Some Math IBM Drives Home a Strong Second Quarter Across the Board IBM’s Q1 Driven by Mainframes, Unix, Services, and the Weak Dollar Let’s Unscramble IBM’s Server Sales in Q1 2008 a Little Weak Dollar, Services, and Power6 Give IBM a Solid Fourth Quarter IBM Gives Wall Street a Present: More Profits Than Expected IBM Hit by Financial Services Slowdown in Q3 System i Sales Drop Again in Q3, IBM Says Little Shearer Talks About System i Sales, Server Reorganization IBM Turns In Its Best Second Quarter in Six Years Slowing U.S. Sales Hurt IBM’s First Quarter Merrill Lynch Takes a Closer Look at IBM’s Server Sales in Q1
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