IBM stock sank Thursday, though the technology mainstay beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter expectations.
During the December period, IBM earned $3.60 per share, minus some items, on $16.69 billion in sales. Earnings topped analyst forecasts by a penny, according to FactSet. Those analysts also expected $16.15 billion in sales. On a year-over-year basis, earnings grew 7.5% and sales were roughly flat.
Excluding the impact of exchange rates, the strongest growth came from IBM's consulting business. Revenue rose more than 9% to $4.8 billion. Sales in the much larger software business climbed 8% to $7.3 billion, leading a 7.4% jump for the infrastructure division. Infrastructure sales were $4.5 billion.
IBM predicted sales would grow by a mid-single-digit percentage for the full year. That would exclude the impact of exchange rates. IBM stock analysts projected $60.8 billion in sales, which would be flat after about 6% sales growth in 2022.
On the stock market today, IBM stock dropped 4.5% and closed at 134.45. That put shares below the lower bound of a flat base with a buy point at 153.31, according to MarketSmith.com. IBM stock dropped in line with its 200-day moving average.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
