$2.18, adjusted, versus $2.01 per share expected, according to Refinitiv.Net income for the quarter rose 13% to $1.6 billion from $1.4 billion, or $1.72 per share, a year earlier. IBM's adjusted gross margin of 55.9% was higher than the Street Account estimate of 54.7%. Revenue was virtually flat from a year earlier.
IBM CFO James Kavanaugh, in a statement, attributed the company's expanding gross margin to a more profitable mix of products — software was the company's fastest growing division — as well as "productivity initiatives." IBMIBM reiterated on Wednesday that it expects between 3% and 5% revenue growth through the end of the year in constant currency. The company forecasts about $10.5 billion in free cash flow in 2023.
Intel's largest division, its software segment, reported $6.6 billion in sales, which was up over 7% from a year ago. Software includes products such as its Red Hat Linux operating system and security software. The part of that division that grew the fastest was data and artificial intelligence products, which were up 10% from a year earlier.as a development studio for companies to "train, tune and deploy" machine-learning models, 15 months after the company sold its Watson Health unit.