Chairman, President and CEO of IBM Arvind Krishna attends the 55th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2025.
Yves Herman | Reuters
IBM reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results on Wednesday and issued a forecast that slightly topped estimates.
Here how the company did compared to LSEG consensus estimates:
- Earnings per share: $4.52 adjusted vs. $4.32 expected
- Revenue: $19.69 billion vs. $19.23 billion expected.
Revenue rose 12% during the period from $17.6 billion a year earlier. Net income increased to $5.6 billion, or $5.88 per share, from $2.92 billion, or $3.09 per share, in the year-ago period.
IBM said it expects full-year revenue growth to exceed 5%, decelerating from 8% last year. Analysts expect sales growth of 4.6% in 2026, according to LSEG. Free cash flow should increase by $1 billion after reaching $14.7 billion in 2025, the company said.
CEO Arvind Krishna said in a release that the company’s generative artificial intelligence book of business hit more than $12.5 billion.
“This capped a strong 2025 for IBM where we exceeded expectations for revenue, profit and free cash flow,” Krishna wrote.
IBM said software revenue rose 14% to $9 billion in fourth quarter, benefitting from automation, data and Red Hat products. Infrastructure sales increased 21% to $5.1 billion, with 67% year-over-year growth in its IBM Z Systems line of mainframe computers.
The company’s board of directors approved a per-share dividend of $1.68, payable on March 10.