IBM released its latest earnings report after closing bell tonight, posting adjusted earnings of $5.81 per share for continuing operations, a 6% decline, on $24.1 billion in revenue from continuing operations, a 12% decline year over year. Analysts had been expecting earnings of $5.43 per share on $24.77 billion in revenue.
Key metrics from IBM’s earnings report
GAAP earnings from continuing operations were $5.54, a 4% decline.
The company said GAAP earnings from continuing operations rose 2% to $15.59 for the full year. Non-GAAP earnings fell 1% to $16.53 per share. The full year’s gross profit margin rose 50 basis point to 50%. Full year revenue from continuing operations fell 6% to $92.8 billion.
“We are making significant progress in our transformation, continuing to shift IBM’s business to higher value, and investing and positioning ourselves for the longer term,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and CEO in a statement.
IBM’s results by segment
IBM reported a 16% increase in “strategic imperatives,” which rose to $25 billion in the quarter. The segment represents 27% of the company’s total revenue. Total cloud revenue rose 60% to $7 billion. Cloud as a service revenues rose 75% o $3 billion. The company’s year-end annual run rate was $3.5 billion. Business analytics revenue rose 7% to almost $17 billion. Mobile revenue more than tripled, while security revenue increased by 19%.
In the Americas, IBM said revenue fell 9% to $11.1 billion. Revenue from Europe, the Middle East and Africa fell 13%, while revenue from the Asia Pacific region fell 17% to $4.9 billion in the fourth quarter. Growth markets revenues fell 16%.
IBM said Global Services revenues fell 8% to $13.5 billion. Revenues from Software fell 7% year over year to $7.6 billion for the fourth quarter. Revenue from Global Financing was flat at $532 million. Hardware revenues fell 39% to $2.4 billion. After adjusting for the divesture of the System x business, revenue for the segment fell 12%.
The tech giant reported a fourth quarter gross margin of 53.3%, compared to last year’s 52.4%. IBM said management would provide guidance in their earnings call.
Shares of IBM fell as much as 2% after tonight’s earnings report.
