Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM, attends the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2025.
Yves Herman | Reuters
IBM reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and raised its forecast, citing current tailwinds from artificial intelligence. Still, the stock fell 5% in extended trading.
Here’s how the company performed compared to LSEG estimates:
- Earnings per share: $2.65 adjusted versus $2.45 expected
- Income: $16.33 billion versus $16.09 billion expected.
Revenue rose 9 percent, from about $15 billion last year, IBM said. The company reported net income of $1.74 billion, or $1.84 per share, after posting a loss of $330 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier. Last year’s results included the impact of $2.7 billion in pension settlement costs.
“Customers around the world continue to leverage our technology and domain expertise to improve the productivity of their operations and deliver real business value through AI,” CEO Arvind Krishna said in a statement.
IBM raised its revenue forecast and said it now expects revenue growth of “greater than” 5%, up from “at least” 5%. Free cash flow for the year is expected to reach $14 billion, up from an estimated $13.5 billion last quarter.
Krishna also said the company’s AI business volume exceeded $9.5 million, up from $7.5 billion in the second quarter.
Like many technology companies, IBM has leveraged AI to streamline productivity and reduce costs. In May, Krishna told the Wall Street Journal that he had replaced 200 human resources positions.
IBM’s software revenue rose 10% to $7.21 billion, matching a StreetAccount estimate. The board’s revenue totaled $5.3 billion, beating forecasts of $5.24 billion.
Infrastructure, which includes its mainframe business, jumped 17% to $3.6 billion.
IBM’s board of directors also approved a quarterly dividend of $1.68 per share.
