Performance Consistent with Analyst Projections, Focus on Strategic Acquisitions and Capital Deployment
Weakness in smaller discretionary projects affected the consulting segment, but analysts at J.P.Morgan said the backlog could help reaccelerate the business through 2024. "Although software acceleration is encouraging, this was offset by more significant-than-expected deterioration of Consulting, along with incremental FX headwinds expected for the rest of the year," analysts at J.P.Morgan said. IBM's software business grew 5.5% in the quarter and the company announced a $6.4 billion deal to buy cloud software company HashiCorp, aiming to make the most of an AI-led boom in demand for the data storage capabilities of the cloud.
Q1 2024 Financial Performance Review