International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) announced its latest quarterly earnings results after the bell Thursday.
The company topped top and bottom line expectations during its fourth quarter for the first time in 24 quarters, posting revenue of $22.5 billion, a 4% increase year-over-year. The figure topped analysts’ expectations of $22.1 billion
IBM’s adjusted earnings came in at $5.18 per share, which was better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $5.16 per share. The figure excluded a one-time charge of $5.5 billion linked with the new U.S. tax reform.
Revenue from IBM’s strategic imperatives for the year came in higher than $36.5 billion, amounting to roughly 46% of its total revenue. The figure was also 11% better than a year ago.
The revenue turnaround for the tech giant came as it cut ties with old lines of business and shifted its attention towards new ventures, including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big-data analytics and mobile. IBM said the new business operations are “strategic imperatives.”
Its fourth-quarter cloud revenue was also on the rise, coming in at $5.5 billion, beating the year-ago mark by 30%. Cloud revenue over the fiscal year tallied up to $17 billion.
“During 2017, we strengthened our position as the leading enterprise cloud provider and established IBM as the blockchain leader for business. Looking ahead, we are uniquely positioned to help clients use data and artificial intelligence to build smarter businesses,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman and chief executive.
IBM stock fell 4.2% after the bell.
