Intel Corporation (INTC), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) & eBay Inc (EBAY): Don’t Get Too Worked Up Over These Technology Firms’ Earnings

When International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) released its first-quarter results in April, it also announced a 12% dividend increase and approved $5 billion in new share buybacks. All told, IBM had approved more than $11 billion in its existing buyback program. Looking further long term, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) Chief Financial Executive Mark Loughridge reiterated that the company was on track to return $70 billion to shareholders in the five-year period ending 2015.

eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) doesn’t pay shareholders a dividend, but the company does reward its owners with a generous buyback program of its own. eBay accelerated its share repurchases in the first quarter of the year, spending nearly a half billion dollars on buybacks in the first three months.

The Foolish takeaway

Despite the seemingly poor earnings reports from each of these companies, in times like these it’s worth reminding investors to not get too worked up over one quarter’s worth of information.

Even the most successful companies in the world go through difficult periods. International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is suffering through stagnating revenues and a restructuring of its work force, which will balloon expenses in the short term. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is trying desperately to get its chips into mobile devices, where the vast majority of growth will come from for the semiconductor business. Lastly, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) foresees a difficult quarter up ahead, but is still growing strongly.

As a result, while it’s easy to get tripped up on a poor earnings report, the problems facing each of these companies is short-term in nature, assuming each is successful at fulfilling their strategic priorities.

Consequently, I view any post-earnings sell off in these names as an opportunity to snatch up a great company at bargain prices.

Robert Ciura owns shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). The Motley Fool recommends eBay and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM).

The article Don’t Get Too Worked Up Over These Technology Firms’ Earnings originally appeared on Fool.com.

Robert is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network — entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.

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