IBM Falls Slightly After Q4 Earnings

IBM (NYSE: IBM) is down less than one percent in after hours trading after the company announced its fourth quarter earnings results.

The company reported a Q4 EPS of $6.13 versus the Street estimate of $5.99.

Earnings per share were up 14 percent from the year-ago period.

Revenue arrived at $27.7 billion versus the Street estimate of $28.25 billion. Sales were down five percent year-over-year.

"We continued to drive strong results across much of our portfolio and again grew earnings per share in 2013," Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO of IBM, said in a company release. "While we made solid progress in businesses that are powering our future, in view of the company's overall full year results, my senior team and I have recommended that we forgo our personal annual incentive payments for 2013.

"As we enter 2014, we will continue to transform our business and invest aggressively in the areas that will drive growth and higher value. We remain on track toward our 2015 roadmap for operating EPS of at least $20, a step in our long-term strategy of industry leadership and continuous transformation."

IBM said that its fourth quarter gross margin came in at 51.7 percent. Revenue from global business services arrived at $4.75 billion. Global tech services pulled in $9.92 billion. The global financing segment nabbed $534 million, while the software segment raked in $8.14 billion.

IBM expects its full-year 2014 operating (non-GAAP) EPS to be at least $18 -- a 10 percent increase over 2013.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.