IBM Posts $2.30 Q3 EPS as Earnings Season Kicks Off
IBM sits 25% above its 52-week low of $199.19.
Summary
IBM reported third-quarter EPS of $2.30 in this Dow Jones flash, the first hard number from its Q3 release, with adjusted EPS of $2.95 and continuing-operations EPS of $2.31, and net income of $2.19B. That compares with GAAP EPS of $2.27 in Q2, when revenue rose just 1% to $17.2B and management cut full-year revenue growth guidance to 4-5%. The headline carries no revenue figure, no guidance update and no year-ago comparison, so the quality of the beat or miss is not yet clear. In the quarter, software revenue rose 8%, consulting revenue was flat at $5.34B and infrastructure revenue rose 4%; IBM said demand across the portfolio combined with strong operational execution led to accelerated growth and solid operating pre-tax margin expansion. Context matters: the stock jumped 6.1% on October 1 after Accenture's strong results suggested resilient IT spending, and a Hagens Berman securities investigation tied to the July 14 Q2 disclosure is still hanging over the name. Watch the full release and call for revenue, software and consulting growth, and any change to the 4-5% full-year revenue outlook.
At the time of this announcement, IBM was trading at $249.61 on NYSE in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $236.9B. The 52-week trading range was $199.19 to $332.46. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.