International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) released its earnings numbers for the first quarter of the year this afternoon after the market closed on Wall Street. The country’s original growing tech concern showed earnings of $2.54 per share for the three month period. Revenue came to $22.5 billion in the first quarter. On today’s market stock in IBM trended downward to finish at $196.40.
Analysts studying International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) were looking for the enterprise services company to show earnings of $2.54 per share for the first quarter of 2014. That number is a consensus estimate obtained from a Businessweek survey of 24 analysts following the company. The same analysts were looking for the firm to bring in $22.9 billion in revenue in the period.
International Business Machines struggles in enterprise
Despite years of improbable growth, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) stock has shuddered in recent times. The company’s shares were blamed for the weakness in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the firm has lost more than 7% of its value in the last twelve months. A lot of pressure has been placed on the company’s executives as they try to define the business for a new era.
Enterprise is where International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) said it was heading when it sold its consumer hardware arm in the middle of the last decade. That change has not been easy for the company as it lagged behind in some areas, like cloud technology, while running ahead in some spheres that haven’t quite matured, like business analysis software.
International Business Machines’ battles to hold hardware
While it struggles to improve its prospects in the enterprise services market, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is seeing losses in a market it has traditionally shown strength in. Hardware has become a weak spot for International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM), and the company’s earnings show just that this time around.
With the competition building among server builders and the server business model almost completely changing International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) has been left behind. The company’s attempts to follow the new paradigm have thus far met with little success, and competitors that IBM never imagined, like Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are beginning to become a problem in the area.
With the enterprise market difficult to create, and hardware problems constantly plaguing the bottom line, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is facing one of the tougher periods in its history. With its relatively low P/E of 13, and its history of forward thinking and market pre-emption, it is unwise to rule IBM out of anything.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) executives will host an earrings call to discuss today’s report at 4:30 PM EST.
