(Reuters) – International Business Machines (IBM) saw a sharp decline of over 8% in premarket trading due to challenges in its consulting business caused by companies tightening their budgets in response to economic uncertainty and high interest rates.
The consulting segment was impacted by a slowdown in smaller discretionary projects, but analysts at J.P. Morgan are optimistic about the potential for a rebound in business growth by 2024.
Despite positive software growth, IBM faced unexpected challenges in its consulting division, as well as additional foreign exchange pressures for the remainder of the year, according to J.P. Morgan analysts.
In a strategic move, IBM’s software business experienced a 5.5% increase in the quarter and announced a significant $6.4 billion acquisition of cloud software company HashiCorp to capitalize on the growing demand for cloud-based data storage solutions driven by artificial intelligence.
Although IBM’s total revenue of $14.46 billion fell slightly below expectations, the company remains focused on innovation and expansion in the tech sector.
2024-04-25 06:52:10
Source from finance.yahoo.com