IBM's first quarter performance did not meet market expectations, and after announcing the acquisition of HashiCorp, its stock price fell 6% in after hours trading.

First quarter financial performance

IBM achieved earnings per share of $1.68 and total revenue of $14.46 billion in the first quarter ending March 31, slightly lower than analyst expectations of $14.54 billion. Among them, the consulting service revenue was 5.19 billion US dollars, the software department revenue reached 5.9 billion US dollars, and the infrastructure and financing departments revenue were 3.08 billion US dollars and 193 million US dollars, respectively. The free cash flow during the same period reached 1.91 billion US dollars.

The impact of acquiring HashiCorp

IBM confirms that it will acquire HashiCorp in full cash at a price of $35 per share. This move is part of IBM's efforts to strengthen its cloud computing and infrastructure management capabilities, and it is expected that this transaction will further enhance IBM's market competitiveness.

Outlook for 2024

Although the first quarter performance did not meet expectations, IBM's financial outlook for 2024 remains stable, with an expected full year free cash flow of approximately $12 billion, and expects revenue growth to maintain a median single digit growth at a fixed exchange rate.