{
  "id": 16021737,
  "title": "IBM shares slide 5% as analysts flag uncertainty around software growth",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/ibm-shares-slide-5-as-analysts-flag-uncertainty-around-software-growth",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-22T08:52:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Investing.com",
    "slug": "investing-com",
    "url": "https://www.investing.com/news/earnings/ibm-shares-climb-on-earnings-beat-4963963"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "IBM shares experienced a significant 5% drop in premarket trading on Thursday, as analysts expressed concerns about the company's software unit growth. Despite this, the tech giant surpassed Wall Street expectations with its third-quarter results. Earnings per share amounted to $2.95, surpassing the estimated $2.86. Revenue reached $17.1 billion, exceeding the forecasted $16.82 billion.\n\nIn a positive turn, IBM raised its full-year free cash flow outlook, projecting a more than $1 billion increase year-over-year. The company also maintained its revenue growth outlook for the year, ranging between 4% and 5% in constant currency. CEO Arvind Krishna attributed the disciplined execution throughout the quarter to accelerated revenue growth and robust free cash flow.\n\nThe software segment drove the majority of IBM's revenue, generating $7.8 billion, a 8% increase or 9% at constant currency. Within this segment, Hybrid Cloud revenues surged 11%, Data processing rose 19%, and Transaction Processing climbed 9%. Automation revenues, however, declined by 3%. Consulting revenues remained flat year-over-year but increased by 2%, while Strategy and Technology revenues rose by 2%, and Intelligent Operations declined by 2%. Infrastructure revenues grew by 4%, or 5% at constant currency, with Distributed Infrastructure jumping 31% and IBM Z falling by 20%. Infrastructure Support decreased by 3%, and Financing revenues dropped by 4%, or 3% at constant currency.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}