International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) reported its most recent quarterly results after markets closed Tuesday. Big Blue said that it had $2.97 in earnings per share (EPS) and $19.3 billion in revenue versus consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $2.74 in EPS and $19.45 billion in revenue. The second quarter from last year had $2.95 in EPS and $20.24 billion in revenue.
In terms of its business segments IBM reported:
- Cognitive Solutions (includes solutions software and transaction processing software) — revenues of $4.6 billion, down 2.5% (down 1.4% adjusting for currency). Pre-tax income increased at a double-digit rate.
- Global Business Services (includes consulting, global process services and application management) — revenues of $4.1 billion, down 3.7% (down 1.7% adjusting for currency). Strategic imperatives grew 8% led by the cloud and mobile practices.
- Technology Services & Cloud Platforms (includes infrastructure services, technical support services and integration software) — revenues of $8.4 billion, down 5.1% (down 3.6% adjusting for currency). Strategic imperatives, driven by hybrid cloud services, grew 20%.
- Systems (includes systems hardware and operating systems software) — revenues of $1.7 billion, down 10.4% (down 9.6% adjusting for currency).
- Global Financing (includes financing and used equipment sales) — revenues of $415 million, down 2.2% (down 1.7% adjusting for currency).
Big Blue maintained its guidance for full-year EPS at $13.80 and free cash flow expectations. The current consensus estimates are calling for $13.68 in EPS and $78.21 billion in revenue for the full year.
On the books, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaled $12.3 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with $8.5 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.
Ginni Rometty, IBM Chairman, President and CEO, commented:
In the second quarter, we strengthened our position as the enterprise cloud leader and added more of the world’s leading companies to the IBM Cloud. We continue to innovate, adding regtech capabilities to our portfolio of Watson offerings; developing solutions based on emerging technologies such as Blockchain; and reinventing the IBM mainframe by enabling clients to encrypt all data, all the time.
Shares of Big Blue closed Tuesday at $154.10, with a consensus analyst price target of $162.93 and a 52-week range of $147.79 to $182.79. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was initially down just over 1% at $152.32 in the after-hours trading session.
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