IBM slides despite reporting its first profit growth in almost 6 years

Thomson Reuters

• Shares of IBM fell in pre-market trading despite an earnings beat.
• IBM reported fourth-quarter earnings after Thursday's closing bell that beat analysts' expectations.
• The company reported growing its revenues from the year before for the first time in 23 quarters.
• View IBM's stock price here.

Shares of IBM slid in pre-market trading on Friday despite reporting profits that beat analysts' expectations.

The tech giant reported a monumental quarter, breaking a 22-quarter streak of declining revenue. It reported $22.54 billion in revenue, up 4% from the same time last year. This was ahead of analysts' expectations of $22.05 billion.

Yet enthusiasm on Wall Street was muted after it reported an adjusted loss of $0.14 per share versus $4.73 earnings per share in same period a year ago. This was likely on account of a one-time tax charge of $5.5 billion related to the GOP's tax reform law.

IBM is seen as one of the companies that will benefit from tax reform because of a one-time tax holiday, designed to incentivize companies that garner much of their profits overseas to bring cash back to the US at a lower tax rate.

IBM's stock was down 3% at $163.99. It was up 5.96% for the year.

Read more about how IBM is jumping on the blockchain bandwagon.

Markets Insider