International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM) reported better-than-expected full-year guidance and fourth-quarter results on Tuesday.
Earnings showed themselves at $4.87 per share, excluding certain items, vs. $4.82 per share as expected by analysts. Revenue was $21.76 billion, vs. $21.71 billion as expected by analysts. Revenue fell 3 percent year over year, meaning the company has now reported revenue declines for two consecutive quarters.
For all of 2018, IBM generated $13.81 in earnings per share, excluding certain items. Analysts had expected $13.78 per share for the period
IBM’s largest business segment, Technology Services and Cloud Platforms, posted $8.9 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting $9.04 billion in revenue from the segment.
The next-largest business segment, Cognitive Solutions, did $5.5 billion in revenue. That exceeded the FactSet consensus estimate, which was $5.27 billion.
IBM’s Global Business Services segment collected $4.3 billion in revenue, exceeding the $4.15 billion estimate, and the Systems segment came in at $2.6 billion, below the $2.77 billion estimate. The Global Financing segment contributed $402 million in revenue, under the $426 million estimate.
In the quarter IBM announced its intent to pay $34 billion to acquire Red Hat, announced a chip manufacturing deal from Samsung and sold software assets to HCL Technologies for $1.8 billion. The Red Hat deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019.
In 2018 the company got $39.8 billion in revenue, or about half of the total -- from areas it calls strategic imperatives, which are social, mobile, analytics and cloud. Cloud revenue of $19.2 billion for the year was up 12%.
Shares rocketed $9.93, or 8.1%, to $132.45 Wednesday
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