IBM disclosed preliminary second-quarter results on July 14, a week before its scheduled earnings call, saying delayed large customer deals and weaker-than-expected performance in its Z mainframe franchise left the company below its own expectations. The company reported revenue of $17.2 billion for the quarter ended June 30, up 1% from a year earlier, while its infrastructure segment declined 7%.
The early disclosure put unusual focus on the part of IBM’s portfolio tied to Z systems and their related software. Business Insider reported that IBM shares closed down 25% at $217.05 on July 14. IBM said its financial reporting remained in progress, meaning the figures are preliminary and final results may differ slightly when the company reports in full.
Infrastructure decline contrasts with software growth
In its letter to investors, IBM said preliminary software revenue rose 5% year over year. Consulting revenue was flat, or up 1% at constant currency. Infrastructure revenue fell 7%, creating a 12-percentage-point spread between the reported growth rates of software and infrastructure.
That split is important because IBM did not report a broad contraction in its software segment. Arvind Krishna, IBM’s chairman, president and chief executive, identified the shortfall more narrowly: weaker Z performance and its associated software stack, primarily Transaction Processing. Describing the result as an overall software decline would conflict with IBM’s reported 5% increase in total software revenue.
IBM also reported preliminary GAAP diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $2.27 and operating, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $2.93. A Stocktwits report, without naming the underlying consensus provider, put Wall Street expectations at $17.8 billion in revenue and $3.02 in GAAP earnings per share. On those cited estimates, IBM’s preliminary revenue was $600 million, or about 3.4%, below expectations, while GAAP EPS was 75 cents lower. Those comparisons should be treated as the outlet’s reported consensus figures rather than as guidance confirmed by IBM.
IBM attributes miss to deal timing and late-quarter spending changes
Krishna said numerous large deals did not close on the timelines IBM had expected and accounted for most of the shortfall. He said customers redirected capital spending during the final weeks of June toward servers, storage and memory, seeking to secure supply-constrained infrastructure before anticipated price increases.
He also cited rapidly evolving cybersecurity concerns as a distraction for clients during the quarter and said IBM had not moved quickly enough in those conditions. Those are management’s explanations for the performance, not independently established measures of why each deal slipped or each customer changed spending plans.
The timing of the statement gives investors only a partial view of the quarter. IBM issued selected results ahead of its regularly scheduled July 22 earnings conference call, set for 5 p.m. Eastern time, when it said it would discuss full-year expectations. The investor letter did not provide new full-year guidance figures, despite outside reports characterizing the outlook as below Wall Street expectations.
A preliminary release before the full earnings report
IBM’s decision to release selected figures ahead of the normal reporting date separated the immediate market response from the company’s complete earnings package. Investors have the revenue, segment-growth and earnings-per-share figures, along with management’s account of the Z-related shortfall, but not yet the finalized financial statements or the fuller discussion typically provided on an earnings call.
The disclosure also shows that the company’s weakness was concentrated rather than uniform across its operating groups. Software’s 5% revenue growth included IBM’s report that Red Hat grew 11% sequentially, while the infrastructure result reflected the Z-related pressure cited by management. IBM did not provide segment-level dollar revenue in the preliminary letter, so the available figures do not establish how much of the companywide $17.2 billion came from each business.
For shareholders, the next formal checkpoint is July 22. IBM has said it will provide final second-quarter reporting and discuss its full-year expectations then; until that release, the July 14 figures remain an early account of a quarter shaped, in the company’s view, by delayed large deals and a weaker Z cycle.