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IBM surprises investors with return to growth in first quarter
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After four consecutive quarters of revenue declines, IBM Corp. surprised investors today with 1% growth in quarterly revenue, sending its stock up more than 3% in after-hours trading and raising hopes that other technology giants could report similar surprises in the coming weeks.
Revenue rose to $17.73 billion from the same quarter a year ago and well ahead of analysts’ average estimate of $17.32 billion. Earnings per share of $1.77 also beat analysts’ estimate of $1.69.
The surprise was to some extent a matter of timing, since revenues fell 2% when adjusted for constant currency. Still, any good financial news from IBM has been well received as of late and executives painted a bright picture of the upcoming quarter and the full year.
IBM CEO Krishna: Hybrid Cloud ‘Transformation’ Already Yielding Results
As IBM pursues greater partner engagement around the hybrid cloud opportunity, the company reported a 21-percent increase in total cloud revenue during the first quarter of the year. By Wade Tyler Millward April 19, 2021, 09:29 PM EDT
IBM’s investments into its hybrid cloud business and elevating the role of partners are already starting to pay off, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said Monday.
The company reported that revenue for the first quarter of the year, ended March 31, grew 1 percent from the same period a year ago to reach $17.7 billion. That was a reversal from the previous four consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines for IBM.
IBM shares jump on biggest revenue rise since 2018
CLOUD DEMAND: IBM chief executive officer Arvind Krishna said he is ‘confident’ that IBM will deliver revenue growth in the second quarter and the rest of the year
Bloomberg
International Business Machines Corp (IBM) shares jumped in extended trading after the company reported its biggest revenue gain in 11 quarters driven by demand for cloud services.
Sales increased 1 percent to US$17.7 billion in the first quarter, the Armonk, New York-based company said on Monday in a statement.
That beat the average of US$17.3 billion forecast by analysts, Bloomberg data showed.
IBM reported first-quarter revenue growth in three of its five business segments, including Cloud and Cognitive Software, which saw a sales increase of 3.8 percent from a year earlier to US$5.4 billion.
For the first three months of 2021, IBM s Global Technology Services - the unit that handles managed services and outsourcing - brought in revenues of $6.37 billion. Its Cloud and Cognitive Software Division, which includes Red Hat, was up 4% with revenues $5.44 billion, with Red Hat on its own reporting impressive growth of 17%.
IBM s Global Business Services, which includes consulting, contributed $4.23 billion in revenue, a 2% increase year-on-year. System sales, such as mainframe computers, was also up 4% with revenue coming in at $1.43 billion. Strong performance this quarter in cloud, driven by increasing client adoption of our hybrid cloud platform, and growth in software and consulting enabled us to get off to a solid start for the year, said IBM CEO Arvind Krishna.