IBM shares slip as revenue down and forecast pulled

IBM shares slipped Tuesday as the market reacted to the business computing veteran reporting a decline in quarterly revenue and pulled its forecast for the year due to the pandemic tumult.

IBM shares were down 3.7 percent in mid-day trading, despite the company stressing its strengths in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and long-time relationships with businesses relying increasingly on those technologies.

"IBM remains focused on helping our clients adapt to the immediate challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, while we continue to enable them to shift their mission-critical workloads to hybrid cloud and expand their use of AI," chief executive Arvind Krishna said in an earnings release.

IBM reported net income of $1.2 billion on revenue of $17.6 billion in the first three months of this year compared with a profit of $1.6 billion on $18.2 billion in revenue during the same period last year.

Revenue from IBM's cloud computing operations jumped 19 percent to $5.4 billion in the same quarterly comparison, according to earnings figures.

However, customers are scaling back projects as they conserve cash with the coronavirus pandemic battering the economy, according to the New York-based company.

IBM withdrew its financial guidance for this year, citing the COVID-19 crisis and saying it planned to reassess the financial landscape in the months ahead.

"Our recurring revenue stream, continued gross profit margin expansion and strong balance sheet and liquidity position remain stabilizing elements in an unprecedented business climate," said IBM chief financial officer James Kavanaugh.

© 2020 AFP