International Business Machines Corporation saw its shares plunge 7.5% on Wednesday during midday trade. The company announced its earnings for first quarter of fiscal 2018 on Tuesday.
The earnings appeared to edge above Wall Street expectations and provided a downbeat outlook to some degree. The performance of the company’s stock on Wednesday was the worst since Apr. 19, 2013. The shares lost $12.13, or 7.54% to close the day at $148.79.
IBM Earnings & Outlook
IBM revenue for Q1 of 2018 increased by 5% to $19.1 billion. Adjusted earnings per share grew by 4% to $2.45. Analysts had been anticipating adjusted earnings per share of $2.40 on $18.8 billion revenue. The company’s gross profit margin dipped by 0.7% from a similar quarter in the previous year.
Analysts were also expecting the margins to improve as the company had shifted its business mix and streamlined its workforce towards more money-making business lines last year. Net income dropped to $1.7 billion, or 4% based on formal principles of accounting.
International Business Machines CEO Comments
IBM chief executive officer, president and chairman Ginni Rometty issuing a statement saying: “In the first quarter we maintained momentum in our business, with reported revenue growth in total and across our major segments. These results reinforce that our clients value our innovative technologies, our industry expertise and our commitment and actions for the responsible stewardship of their privacy and data. This is also reflected in our leadership positions in enterprise cloud, AI and security.”
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