Why IBM Shares Are Rising Today

International Business Machines Corp (NYSE: IBM) is trading higher Tuesday after the company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results.

IBM reported quarterly earnings of $3.35 per share, which beat the estimate of $3.14 per share. The company reported quarterly revenue of $16.7 billion, which beat the estimate of $16.06 billion.

On a year-over-year basis, software revenue increased by 8%, consulting revenue was up 13%, hybrid cloud revenue increased by 16% and infrastructure revenue was flat.

During IBM's conference call, the company said it expects 2022 revenue to increase by about 5%, excluding contributions from Kyndryl.

"Our fourth-quarter results give us confidence in our ability to deliver our objectives of sustained mid-single digit revenue growth and strong free cash flow in 2022," said Arvind Krishna, chairman and CEO of IBM.

Following the company's quarterly results, BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman maintained IBM with a Market Perform rating and raised the price target from $153 to $155.

IBM Price Action: IBM has traded as low as $114.56 and as high as $152.84 over a 52-week period.

The stock was up 6.24% at $136.86 at time of publication.

Photo: courtesy of IBM.