IBM's Overcome Expectations In Its 3Q Results

Before IBM reported its quarterly earnings yesterday, no one would have expected the company's crucial global computer services business, which accounts for more than half its revenue, to come up short and still have IBM beat forecasts. Yet, that's exactly what happened, with impressive 3Q sales increases in its hardware and software lines, including mainframes and web applications. Quarterly profits came in at $2.22 billion, or $1.45 a shares
Revenue rose 5% to $22.62 billion, up from $21.53 billion a year earlier despite a global services revenue increase of just 2.7%. Hardware sales improved 8.9%, driven by a 25 percent gain in the mainframe business, while software revenue increased 8.5%.
Analysts however voiced concern during the conference call about the continued disappointment with IBM's global services business - something which will potentially affect future earnings if it is not rectified.

I was curious as to how revenue growth has been in the BRIC countries after IBM reported its business in Japan has recovered from declining revenue earlier this year to being flat this quarter. Below is a summary of BRIC revenue growth over the past four quarters. India is in Green. China in Red showed Significant results.Brazil stayed Positive while Russia declined