The VAR Guy

Rising energy prices. Sub-prime lending woes. Slowing consumer spending. Amid all these economic fears, IBM disclosed stronger-than-expected quarterly (though preliminary) financial results today. The VAR Guy is a little bit relieved. But let’s not celebrate too much. It’s great to hear good news from Big Blue–but plenty of question marks continue to surround the IT market in 2008.

CNBC notes that Citibank and Merrill Lynch are expected to report dismal earnings this week. If you’re a solutions provider targeting Wall Street or financial services clients, The VAR Guy thinks you better be pushing into different vertical markets this year. Nothing like government, health care and education to provide steady dividends during mixed economic times.

For the moment, Wall Street is celebrating IBM’s quarterly profits, which jumped 24 percent compared to the corresponding quarter last year. But this could be a short party, folks. Citi is turning cautious on software stocks; Bear Stearns is bearish on hardware stocks; and Citi is telling investors to dump shares in NetSuite, the software-as-a-service darling, notes Barron’s. And Fortune is quick to put IBM’s earnings in perspective.