Shares of IBM (NYSE:IBM) gained in after-hours trading after the company reported earnings for its first quarter of Fiscal Year 2023. Earnings per share came in at $1.36, which beat analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.26 per share. Sales increased by 0.7% year-over-year, with revenue hitting $14.3 billion. This missed analysts’ expectations of $14.33 billion.
Most of IBM’s segments delivered some kind of increase in year-over-year comparisons, even if most of them were fairly trivial upgrades. The software segment, for example, picked up 2.6% to reach revenues of $5.9 billion. Consulting services, meanwhile, added an extra 2.8% to hit $5 billion. The lone exception was infrastructure, however, which brought in $3.1 billion, a figure down 3.7%.
Management also offered up some projections for Fiscal Year 2023. It expects revenue growth of between 3% and 5% on a constant-currency basis. Further, the company stands behind earlier projections of around $10.5 billion in free cash flow, which is up $1 billion against 2022’s figures.
Overall, Wall Street has a consensus price target of $146.70 on IBM stock, implying 16.13% upside potential, as indicated by the graphic above.
