When it leads to profits, performance trumps everything.
Traders will be scanning their statements carefully for clues to their profit performance in the months ahead.
In a statement, Virginia M. Rometty, I.B.M.'s chief executive, pointed to the solid profit performance.
The increase was attributed to improved operating profit performance and a comparatively lower effective tax rate in 2008.
Samuel J. Palmisano, I.B.M.'s chief executive, attributed the strong profit performance to the steady shift toward higher-margin software and services businesses and improved efficiency in recent years.
"We can look back on a year of achievement, both at home and internationally and we are pleased to post a record profit performance," said chief executive, Christopher Bell.
The quarterly result, said A. M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, pointed to "fortress I.B.M.," a company whose profit performance seems all but impervious to industry cycles.
Trinity Mirror said that continued cost-cutting – the target for 2012 has been raised from £15m to £20m – and a fall in newsprint prices will help it to a better than expected profit performance this year.
The company's profit performance, according to A.M. Sacconaghi, an analyst at Bernstein Research, is proof that I.B.M. is executing its strategy effectively.
It is now examining how many more could be rejigged to bolster its struggling sales and profit performance.
