	talking point ibm ibm international business machines corp has started the year aggressively but industry analysts said the company still faces some tough rounds in its fight to stop a two year ings slump i am more impressed with what s happening at ibm than i have been in a long time said painewebber analyst stephen smith but they re not out of the woods yet he added at dlrs a share ibm s first quarter net income easily topped most estimates on wall street which had ranged from an even dollar to dlrs most analysts said they were pleasantly surprised by ibm s performance but they indicated that ibm s chances for a full recovery hinged on several key factors whose impact will not be felt until later in the year these include the success of ibm s new personal computer line introduced two weeks ago and its minicomputers which will begin volume shipments in july in addition ibm has said the full benefits of its early retirement program and other cost cutting moves will emerge as the year progresses analysts noted that ibm chairman john f akers was relatively more upbeat in assessing the company s outlook than he has been for nearly a year although the worldwide economic situation remains unsettled there are some encouraging signs in our business akers said pointing to among other things higher first quarter shipments we remain optimistic about the prospects for both the industry and ibm he said akers was most encouraging said painewebber s smith a weak dollar a lower tax rate and strong mainframe computer sales all contributed to the better than expected first quarter results analysts said shipments of the mainframes were very strong in march after a weak january and february said ulric weil of washington based weil and associates sales of the top of the line mainframes commonly called the sierras bailed out the whole quarter weil said adding if this continues it augers well for the rest of the year reuter m 
