IBM Ends 22-Quarter Streak of Falling Revenue<br />In a statement, Ms. Rometty noted the strong growth in the new businesses, which IBM collectively calls “strategic imperatives”<br />and now represent 46 percent of the company’s revenue.<br />Like other large international corporations, IBM has kept some of its global profits<br />off its domestic books to avoid the previous 35 percent federal corporate tax rate.<br />Under the new tax law, companies get a one-time repatriation of those profits at tax rates ranging from 8 percent to 15.5 percent.<br />IBM reported revenue of $22.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017, surpassing the<br />average estimate of analysts of $22.05 billion, as compiled by Thomson Reuters.<br />IBM reported revenue growth for the first time in five and a half years on Thursday, ending a streak of 22 consecutive quarters of shrinking sales.<br />But the company’s fourth-quarter report is an encouraging sign<br />that IBM’s financial performance is stabilizing, and perhaps the transformation effort led by Virginia M. Rometty, the chief executive, is gaining ground.
