IBM 1Q18 Earnings: EPS Beats @ $2.45

IBM’s 1Q18 earnings were just announced, and beat estimates on EPS of $2.42 per share at $2.45, and revenue at $19.1 billion (vs. estimates of $18.84 billion).

CNBC’s report highlights:

Last quarter, IBM announced revenue growth from the year-ago quarter for the first time in more than five years. That streak is now continuing for a second quarter.

But the company reaffirmed its previous guidance of $13.80 in earnings per share, excluding certain items, for the full year of 2018, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected $13.83 per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Cantor Fitzgerald analysts led by Joseph Foresi said in a Friday note that they expect IBM to report gains from companies upgrading to IBM’s latest mainframe computer, the z14.

IBM continues to seek growth from its strategic imperatives, which include social, mobile, analytics and cloud. In the fourth quarter that group contributed 49 percent of all revenue, and the Cantor analysts expect that balance to be unchanged in the first quarter.

With respect to guidance, for the second quarter analysts expect IBM to forecast $3.05 in earnings per share, excluding certain items, on $19.9 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.