IBM last Wednesday, July 23, published information on its financial results for the second quarter of the current year, which exceeded analysts’ preliminary expectations.
The mentioned company’s revenue for April- June 2024 was fixed at $15.77 billion. This indicator showed an increase of 1.9% compared to the result for the same period last year. It’s worth noting that LSEG’s preliminary estimate provided that the company’s revenue for April- June 2024 would reach $15.62 billion.
IBM’s net income for the second quarter of the current year was $1.83 billion. For the same period in 2023, the corresponding figure was fixed at $1.58 billion.
Earnings per share amounted to an adjusted $2.43. The preliminary LSEG estimate provided that the corresponding figure would be fixed at around $2.20.
IBM specializes in the development of hardware, software, and consulting services. The company currently expects its free cash flow in the current year to exceed the $12 billion mark. It is worth noting that in April, IBM management claimed that the corresponding figure would not exceed a kind of financial border of $12 billion.
Arvind Krishna, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, said that the generative artificial intelligence business book currently stands at more than $2 billion. It is worth noting that in April the corresponding figure was about $1 billion less. Arvind Krishna also stated that the company is confident in the positive macroeconomic outlook for technology spending. He shared this vision of prospects during a conference call with analysts. At the same time, Arvind Krishna noted that the company does not deny the fact of the impact of such circumstances on the current configuration of economic reality as high interest rates and inflation.
Also, in the relevant context, he stated that the uncertainty that is observed in the space of geopolitical relations turned out to be longer than the preliminary estimates of this state of affairs. According to him, the mentioned situation weighs into people’s heads about what else might happen. It is worth noting that political uncertainty or tension in the corresponding dimension of the being of human civilization cannot be a favorable environment for most categories of business.
IBM’s software development business generated revenue of $6.74 billion in April-June of the current year. This indicator showed an increase of 7% year-on-year. It is worth noting that StreetAccount’s forecast provided that the revenue of the mentioned business for the second quarter of 2024 would be fixed at $6.49 billion. The reality turned out to be more optimistic than the preliminary expectations.
The revenue of the IBM consulting unit for April- June of the current year was fixed at $5.18 billion. This indicator decreased by 0.9% compared to the result for the same period in 2023. StreetAccount’s forecast provided that the revenue of the mentioned unit of the company for the second quarter of 2024 would reach $5.23 billion.
The revenue of the IBM infrastructure segment, consisting of mainframes, for April-June of the current year amounted to $3.65 billion. This indicator increased by 0.8% compared to the result for the same period in 2023. StreetAccount forecasted that IBM infrastructure segment revenue for the second quarter of 2024 would be $3.51 billion. Jim Kavanaugh, Chief Financial Officer of the company, says that the revenue figure from the current z16 mainframe is still higher than in previous cycles.
During the last quarter, IBM announced its intention to acquire HashiCorp as part of the deal with a $6.4 billion enterprise value. The company also said Palo Alto Networks had agreed to buy IBM’s QRadar cloud software and migrate customers to the Cortex Xsiam product. Moreover, IBM has announced plans for data center infrastructure in Montreal.
The value of the company’s shares has increased by 14% since the beginning of the current year, which corresponds to the S&P 500 index. To some extent, the so-called artificial intelligence boom has contributed to this result.
As we have reported earlier, IBM Makes More Open-Source AI Models.
Serhii Mikhailov
Serhii’s track record of study and work spans six years at the Faculty of Philology and eight years in the media, during which he has developed a deep understanding of various aspects of the industry and honed his writing skills; his areas of expertise include fintech, payments, cryptocurrency, and financial services, and he is constantly keeping a close eye on the latest developments and innovations in these fields, as he believes that they will have a significant impact on the future direction of the economy as a whole.
