IBM Reports 2019 Second-Quarter Results 

ARMONK, N.Y., July 18, 2019 -- IBM today announced second-quarter results.

“In the second quarter, we continued to grow in the high-value areas of the business, led by a strong performance across our Cloud and Cognitive Software segment,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.  “With the completion of our acquisition of Red Hat, we will provide the only true open hybrid multicloud platform in the industry, strengthening our leadership position and uniquely helping clients succeed in chapter 2 of their digital reinventions.”

“We maintained our momentum in the second quarter, again expanding gross profit margin and growing free cash flow, driven to a great extent by our increasing mix of high-value offerings for clients,” said James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer.  “On August 2, we will discuss how the acquisition of Red Hat will accelerate IBM's revenue growth, contribute to our high-value model and enhance our free cash flow generation going forward.”

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

In the second quarter, the company generated net cash from operating activities of $2.9 billion, or $2.8 billion, excluding Global Financing receivables.  IBM’s free cash flow was $2.4 billion. IBM returned $1.8 billion to shareholders through $1.4 billion in dividends and $0.3 billion in gross share repurchases.  The company suspended its share repurchase program on July 9.

IBM ended the second quarter with $46.4 billion of cash on hand, of which approximately $34 billion was used in July to close the acquisition of Red Hat.  Debt totaled $73.0 billion, including Global Financing debt of $25.0 billion.

Segment Results for Second Quarter

• Cloud & Cognitive Software (includes cloud and data platforms, cognitive applications and transaction processing platforms) -- revenues of $5.6 billion, up 3.2 percent (up 5.4 percent adjusting for currency), with growth in cloud and data platforms, up 5 percent (up 7 percent adjusting for currency); cognitive applications, up 3 percent (up 5 percent adjusting for currency); and transaction processing platforms, up 2 percent (up 4 percent adjusting for currency).
• Global Business Services (includes consulting, application management and global process services) -- revenues of $4.2 billion, up 0.5 percent (up 3.4 percent adjusting for currency), with broad-based strength led by growth in consulting, up 2 percent (up 5 percent adjusting for currency).
• Global Technology Services (includes infrastructure and cloud services and technology support services) -- revenues of $6.8 billion, down 6.7 percent (down 3.5 percent adjusting for currency). Gross profit margin increased 120 basis points.
• Systems (includes systems hardware and operating systems software) -- revenues of $1.8 billion, down 19.5 percent (down 18.0 percent adjusting for currency), with growth in Power, more than offset by the impact of product cycle dynamics in IBM Z and Storage.
• Global Financing (includes financing and used equipment sales) -- revenues of $351 million, down 11.0 percent (down 8.5 percent adjusting for currency), reflects the wind-down of OEM commercial financing.

Full-Year 2019 Expectations

Through the second quarter, IBM remains on track to achieve GAAP diluted earnings per share of at least $12.45, operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings per share of at least $13.90 and free cash flow of approximately $12 billion, all excluding the impact of Red Hat and related activity.  Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings per share expectations exclude $1.45 per share of charges for amortization of purchased intangible assets and other acquisition-related charges, including pre-closing charges, such as financing costs associated with the Red Hat acquisition; retirement-related charges; and tax reform enactment impacts.  It does not include any other amounts for Red Hat or Red Hat related activity.  The company will provide an update to these full-year expectations (including GAAP EPS expectations) on August 2, 2019 to reflect the addition of the recently-closed Red Hat acquisition.  IBM continues to expect Red Hat, including related activity, to be accretive to free cash flow in the first year; accretive to operating (non-GAAP) earnings per share by the end of the second year after closing; and dilutive to full-year 2019 earnings per share due primarily to a non-cash purchase accounting adjustment.

Year-To-Date 2019 Results

Consolidated diluted earnings per share was $4.58 compared to $4.43, up 3 percent year to year.  Consolidated net income was $4.1 billion, flat year to year.  Revenues  for the six-month period ended June 30, 2019 totaled $37.3 billion, a decrease of 4 percent year to year (down 1 percent adjusting for currency) compared with $39.1 billion for the first six months of 2018.

Operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings per share from continuing operations was $5.42 compared with $5.53 per diluted share for the 2018 period, a decrease of 2 percent.  Operating (non-GAAP) net income for the six months ended June 30, 2019 was $4.8 billion compared with $5.1 billion in the prior-year period, a decrease of 5 percent.

Source: IBM