RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – No blue news from IBM (NYSE: IBM) on Tuesday. The tech giant’s quarterly financials beat Wall Street expectations and its stock rose quickly in after-hours trading.
“Demand for hybrid cloud and AI [artificial intelligence] drove growth in both Software and Consulting in the first quarter. Today we’re a more focused business and our results reflect the execution of our strategy,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman and chief executive officer in a statement. “We are off to a solid start for the year, and we now see revenue growth for 2022 at the high end of our model.”
- Earnings: $1.40 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.38 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $14.2 billion, vs. $13.85 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Helping drive growth was cloud sales led in large part by Raleigh-based Red Hat.
Highlights from the report
- Revenue of $14.2 billion, up 8 percent, up 11 percent at constant currency (over 5 points from incremental sales to Kyndryl)
- Software revenue up 12 percent, up 15 percent at constant currency (over 8 points from incremental sales to Kyndryl)
- Consulting revenue up 13 percent, up 17 percent at constant currency
- Infrastructure revenue down 2 percent, flat at constant currency (over 8 points from incremental sales to Kyndryl)
- Hybrid cloud revenue: First Quarter: $5.0 billion, up 14 percent, up 17 percent at constant currency; last 12 months: $20.8 billion, up 17 percent
“In the first quarter we continued to strengthen the fundamentals of our business, consistent with our medium-term model,” said James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer. “We are a faster growing, more profitable company with a higher-value business mix, a significant recurring revenue base and strong cash generation.”
IBM operates one of its largest corporate campuses in RTP and employs thousands of people across North Carolina.