Ingram Micro Shows Macro Results

A slowdown in tech spending? That's not the case at Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM), the world's largest technology distributor. On news of the company's fiscal third-quarter results, the stock climbed 8%. And it looks like the momentum will continue.

Revenue increased 15% to $7.51 billion, with net income up 24% to $72.4 million, or $0.41 per share. The company's investments in global markets are starting to pay off. For example, Asia-Pacific revenue increased a sizzling 36% to $1.86 billion. Over the past year, operating income increased from 1.25% of revenue to 1.29% of revenue. In a sector with razor-thin margins, this is a big accomplishment. Then again, Ingram has been disciplined about its costs and is getting benefits from its economies of scale. 

Ingram is also continuing to forge key alliances. An example is a recent deal with Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to provide on-site IT services like networking, server installations, and voice over Internet protocol. It certainly helps that Ingram has extensive relationships with tech companies like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM).

Something else that's impressive is that Ingram finds ways to innovate despite its large size. For example, the company recently announced a couple of social-networking sites -- a la Facebook -- for its solution-provider partners to bring improved communication and more business.

Ingram has lots of opportunity to leverage its massive global infrastructure. And as seen with the recent positive earnings reports from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), it looks like tech spending is picking up. Couple this with the growth opportunities in Asia-Pacific, and it looks like Ingram is positioned nicely for more growth going into 2008.

For more Foolishness:

• Understand Microsoft by Proxy
• Foolish Forecast: Wow Us, Intel
• Foolish Forecast: Hewlett-Packard, Ho!