Good IBM 3Q earnings expected

Big Blue is rolling out its 3Q earnings report today after the market closes.

It looks like the general concensus among analysts is that IBM will show decent gains in this report.

Some are pointing to the new Enterprise Z mainframe , which is made in Rochester, as a boost for this quarter.

Here's some from a piece by Reuters about this:

A new mainframe computer and a recovery in global tech spending likely buoyed IBM's third quarter, giving its shares room to rise.

The shares climbed to record levels this week, but a stronger outlook, particularly in IT services, could nudge them even higher, analysts and investors said.

"The shares have risen quite a bit lately. But I still view it as a very solid, long-term story because they have strong growth in services, software and hardware," said Standard & Poor's analyst Thomas Smith.

Over the past decade, IBM has shifted its focus to profitable software and IT services, away from low-margin computer hardware. Its increasing profitability has been a major attraction for investors.

But for the third quarter, analysts said they will be focusing on how customers responded to new hardware products, including a new "System z" mainframe computer able to process vast amounts of data and financial transactions.

"Hardware has recently gone to less than 20 percent of revenue, so people begin to ignore that. However, in this quarter, one thing I'm looking for is how the launch goes with new hardware products," said Smith, adding that servers and other hardware products were crucial as they often spur sales of IBM's services and software.

Here's some from what John Letzing of Marketwatch says about it:

Analysts polled by FactSet Research expect the Armonk, N.Y. information-technology giant  to report earnings for the period ended in September of $2.76 a share, on $24.2 billion in revenue.

That would compare with earnings of $2.40 share on $23.6 billion in revenue in the same period last year.

Shares of IBM recently hit an all-time high of $142.10. The shares closed Friday at $141.06.

Analysts covering IBM generally expect the company to post significant growth in the sales of software, hardware and services during the third quarter — thanks in part to easy comparisons to the same period last year.