International Business Machines Corp.’s overshadowed its own earnings report with plans to spin off its datacenter outsourcing business.
What’s left behind is IBM’s hardware, software and services business that IBM Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said would be “laser-focused” on what the company sees as a $1 trillion hybrid-cloud market. IBM has been making grand claims about its commitment to be the leader in hybrid cloud since it announced its $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat two years ago.
IBM provided estimates for its third-quarter results along with the announcement, so investors already know what numbers are coming. They are likely to care more about details on how the company plans to execute the spinoff, so check the earnings call for the new chief executive’s discussion of his first big move at the helm of Big Blue.
Stock movement: Over the third quarter, IBM shares rose 0.8%, compared with a 7.6% rise on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.39%, an 8.5% on the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.01%, and a 11% on the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.36%. Citi Research analyst Jim Suva, who has a neutral rating and a $140 price target, said even though the spinoff was a positive change for IBM, enterprise spending was still sketchy in the meantime.
Sold just in time 😍