International Business Machines Inc. shares rallied in the extended session Monday after the tech giant topped Wall Street estimates with a surprise rise in revenue, snapping a four quarter streak of sales declines.
IBM $(IBM)$ shares surged 4.4% after hours, following a 0.4% decline in the regular session to close at $133.12.
The company reported first-quarter net income of $955 million, or $1.06 a share, compared with $1.18 billion, or $1.31 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation expenses and other items, were $1.77 a share, compared with $1.84 a share in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose to $17.73 billion from $17.57 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts had estimated $1.69 a share and a decline in revenue to $17.32 billion for the first quarter.
"Strong performance this quarter in cloud, driven by increasing client adoption of our hybrid cloud platform, and growth in software and consulting enabled us to get off to a solid start for the year," said Chairman and Chief Executive Arvind Krishna in a statement. "While we have more work to do, we are confident we can achieve full-year revenue growth and meet our adjusted free cash flow target in 2021."
Global technology services, or GTS, posted $6.37 billion in revenue compared with $6.47 billion in the year-ago quarter and the $6.32 billion Street consensus.
The company reported cloud and cognitive software revenue -- which includes its Red Hat unit -- of $5.44 billion compared with $5.24 billion a year ago, while analysts had been expecting $5.48 billion.
Global business services revenue was $4.23 billion, compared with $4.14 billion a year ago, and Street forecasts of $4.03 billion. Systems revenue was $1.43 billion, compared with $1.37 billion a year ago and analyst expectations of $1.29 billion.
IBM said it expects " to grow revenue for the full year 2021 based on mid-April 2021 foreign exchange rates." Analysts expect full-year revenue of $74.07 billion, or a gain of 0.6% from 2020.
Over the past 12 months, IBM shares have advanced 11%. Over the same period, the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- which counts IBM as a component -- has gained 40%, the S&P 500 index has risen 45%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has soared 61%.
Comments