IBM Posts Great Results, Shares Jump

Technology powerhouse IBM (NYSE: IBM) published its first-quarter earnings report on Monday evening. The results came in above Wall Street's expectations, sending IBM shares as much as 5% higher on Tuesday morning.

IBM's first-quarter sales increased 1% year over year, landing at $17.7 billion. Cloud-based revenues rose 21% to $6.5 billion, and the Red Hat division's sales jumped 17% higher. Your average analyst would have settled for total sales near $17.3 billion.

Earnings fell 4% to $1.77 per diluted share. Analysts had been looking for approximately $1.63 per share. Adjusted free cash flows came in 57% higher at $2.2 billion, backing out $600 million of cash costs related to the company's ongoing restructuring effort. Management's full-year guidance was unchanged, pointing to adjusted free cash flow of roughly $11.5 billion and positive revenue growth.

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Source Fool.com