Stock in Apple Inc. got a boost by its erstwhile enemy IBM, which led a broad tech rally in the early hours of the Thursday morning trading session. As of this writing, AAPL was trading at 93.63, a gain of 3.84 (4.28%).
IBM kicked off the tech party by releasing preliminary numbers for the September quarter early, late on Wednesday. The company earned US$2.8 billion on $25.3 billion in revenue, up from $2.36 billion in earnings on $24. billion in revenue in the year-ago quarter.
Perhaps more importantly, Big Blue also reaffirmed its guidance for the rest of the year of $8.75 per share in earnings, a 22% increase in earnings year over year. Itis that guidance that investors latched onto, sending tech shares higher.
Apple releases its own earnings report on October 21st, 2008. The Mac Observer will be offering extended coverage of that report.
*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.
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