Submitted by CARPE DIEM

Bloomberg–International Business Machines, the largest computer-services company in the world, said Wednesday that profit in the first quarter had jumped 26% on strong orders overseas, far exceeding analysts’ expectations. IBM has cut its dependence on U.S. clients by expanding in faster-growing countries such as Brazil, Russia and China, where sales climbed 26% last year.

RTT News–Healthcare products maker Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) on Tuesday reported a 40% rise in its first-quarter profit on higher sales in its consumer business and in the absence of a charge that was incurred in the year-ago quarter. The first-quarter results also included a favorable currency impact.

Johnson & Johnson’s total U.S. sales were up 2.8% to $8.48 billion from $8.25 billion in the first quarter of 2007. International sales contributed $7.72 billion to the sales, rising 13.7% from $6.79 billion in the previous-year quarter.

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