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Despite Revenue Gains, IBM Stock Sinks After Q4 Loss

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International Business Machines (IBM - Free Report) just released its fourth-quarter 2017 financial results, posting adjusted earnings of $5.18 per share and revenues of $22.54 billion. Currently, IBM is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), and is down over 4% to $162 per share in after-hours trading shortly after its earnings report was released.

IBM:

Beat earnings estimates. The company posted adjusted earnings of $5.18 per share, just beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.17 per share.

Beat revenue estimates. The company saw revenue figures of $22.54 billion, topping our consensus estimate of $21.96 billion.

The company reported a Q4 net loss of $1.05 billion, or $1.14 per share, due to its $5.5 billion charge from the new GOP tax reform bill. However, IBM’s quarterly revenues popped 3.6%, marking the first time the company saw its sales climb in almost six years.

IBM was able to grow its top-line due in large part to growth in its cloud computing and security operations sectors.

The company’s full-year strategic imperatives sales, which represent 46% of IBM’s total revenues, climbed 11% year-over-year to hit $36.5 billion. On top of that, full-year cloud revenues surged 24% to reach $17 billion.

"Our strategic imperatives revenue again grew at a double-digit rate and now represents 46 percent of our total revenue, and we are pleased with our overall revenue growth in the quarter," CEO Ginni Rometty said in a statement.

"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 AI to build smarter businesses."

IBM Here’s a graph that looks at IBM’s Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise history:

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Quote

IBM is an information technology (IT) company. The company operates in five segments: Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing. The Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure services and business process services. The Global Business Services segment offers professional services and application management services. The Software segment consists primarily of middleware and operating systems software. The Systems and Technology segment provides computing power and storage solutions; and semiconductor technology products and packaging solutions. The Global Financing segment invests in financing assets, leverages with debt and manages the associated risks. IBM is headquartered in Armonk, New York.

Check back later for our full analysis on IBM’s earnings report!

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