The News: IBM Q4 2022 revenue came in at $16.7 billion in the period ending December 31, 2022, unchanged from $16.7 billion for the quarter one year ago, as Big Blue reported its Q4 and fiscal Full Year (FY) 2022 earnings numbers on January 25. The revenue figure, however, beat analyst estimates of $16.13 billion for the quarter, which also saw IBM post earnings per share of $3.60, beating analyst estimates of $3.58 per share. For full FY2022, IBM revenue totaled $60.5 billion, up 5.5 percent from $57.4 billion one year ago. Read the full IBM Q4 2022 earnings Press Release.
IBM Q4 2022 Revenue Flat at $16.7B, But Beats Estimates
Analyst Take: IBM’s Q4 earnings results are sound, showing that the company is continuing to execute against its strategy of providing broad value to its customers while carefully eyeing costs and markets to adjust to changing macroeconomic conditions.
Though concerns remain about the global economy, IBM’s Q4 earnings figures show IBM continuing to remain competitive in a tech industry that has been roiled in recent months. IBM’s business strength and endurance, and the continuing value of its technologies, products, and expertise in global markets, remains a steady beacon for its customers and its suppliers around the world.
Here are IBM’s Q4 2022 and full fiscal year 2022 earnings by the numbers:
- Q4 2022 revenue of $16.7 billion, flat from $16.7 billion one year ago.
The revenue figure beat analyst consensus estimates of $16.13 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Investing.com. - Q4 2022 non-GAAP net income of $3.3 billion for Q4, up 10 percent from $3.0 billion one year ago.
- Q4 2022 non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $3.60 per share, up from $3.35 per share one year ago. The latest Q4 share price beat analyst estimates of $3.58 per share from Investing.com.
- Q4 2022 non-GAAP net income margin of 19.8 percent, compared to 18.2 percent one year ago.
- Q4 2022 non-GAAP gross profit of $9.8 billion, up one percent from $9.7 billion one year ago.
- Q4 2022 non-GAAP gross profit margin of 58.6 percent, up slightly from 58 percent one year ago.
- Full FY 2022 revenue of $60.5 billion, up 5.5 percent from $57.4 billion one year ago.
- Full FY2022 2022 non-GAAP net income of $8.3 billion.
- Full FY2022 2022 non-GAAP earnings per share of $9.13 per share.
- Full FY2022 2022 non-GAAP net income margin of 13.8 percent.
- Full FY2022 2022 non-GAAP gross profit of $33.4 billion.
- Full FY2022 2022 non-GAAP gross profit margin of 55.1 percent.
IBM’s Q4 and FY2022 in Perspective
IBM’s Q4 and FY2022 numbers arrive amid a string of earnings results and layoff announcements this week from competitors in the tech marketplace. Despite IBM’s solid numbers, the company also separately announced the layoffs of about 3,900 workers as the result of several recent spinoffs, including Kyndryl and part of the AI unit in its Watson Health unit.
The IBM layoffs are a relatively small number of cuts compared to other tech layoffs recently, as IBM appears to be looking at 2023 with a bit of austerity. Meanwhile, Microsoft is cutting 10,000 workers, Amazon is cutting 18,000, Alphabet is cutting 10,000, and Salesforce is cutting 8,000, while others are also making deep cuts.
For IBM, the good news for Q4 is that the company beat on its net income and maintained its revenue total compared to a year ago. And the Q4 figures also kept a streak of promising divisional results growing again as IBM’s software, consulting, and hybrid cloud units all performed well.
Overall, IBM made a good showing despite continuing market headwinds and foreign exchange rate challenges, which continue around the world.
IBM’s Q4 2022 Numbers by Segment
As we mentioned, IBM’s business units saw healthy revenue growth progress in Q4:
The software unit brought in $7.3 billion in revenue for the quarter, flat from $7.3 billion one year ago. Revenue in the hybrid platform and solutions software division was up five percent, or about 10 percent at constant currency. The Red Hat division was up 12 percent, or about 15 percent at constant currency. The automation division was up four percent, or nine percent at constant currency; and the data and AI division was up four percent, or eight percent at constant currency. The security software division was up four percent, or up 10 percent at constant currency, while the transaction processing software division was down three percent, or up three percent at constant currency.
The consulting unit brought in revenue of $4.8 billion for Q4, up 0.5 percent, or up 9.3 percent at constant currency. The business transformation division was down one percent, or up seven percent at constant currency, while the technology consulting division was up one percent, or about 10 percent at constant currency. The application operations software unit was up two percent, or about 12 percent at constant currency.
IBM’s infrastructure unit brought in revenue of $4.5 billion, up 1.6 percent from one year ago, or about 7.4 percent at constant currency. Hybrid infrastructure was up six percent from a year ago, or about 11 percent at constant currency, while IBM zSystems mainframe sales were up 16 percent, or about 21 percent at constant currency. Distributed infrastructure was flat, or up five percent at constant currency, while infrastructure support was down eight percent, or flat at constant currency.
IBM’s finance unit brought in $200 million in revenue in Q4, down 0.4 percent from a year ago, or up 3.9 percent at constant currency.
For the full FY2022, IBM’s hybrid cloud revenue was $22.4 billion, up 11 percent from one year ago, or up 17 percent at constant currency.
IBM’s Full-Year 2023 Expectations
IBM provided revenue guidance for FY2023 with expected constant currency revenue growth with mid-single digit increases, and about $10.5 billion in consolidated free cash flow, up more than $1 billion year-to-year.
We believe that this guidance looks sound as IBM CEO Arvind Krishna sees the tech industry outperforming the nation’s GDP, while he expects IT investments to be a protected budget item among enterprise customers.
IBM Market Overview for 2023
IBM’s more nimble approach since the arrival of Krishna continues to bear benefits, including the company’s resiliency and flexibility as it continues to adjust efficiently to changing macroeconomic conditions around the world.
And as we have said previously, IBM’s continuing focus on hybrid enterprise cloud through partnerships with companies like AWS is a smart approach, especially compared with trying to directly compete with cloud giants such as AWS and Microsoft Azure on its own.
IBM, we believe, continues to be headed in the right direction and is acting more like a nimble startup today than like a top-heavy, slow-reacting company it may have been in the past.
IBM’s Q4 and FY2022 financial results were a positive sign for the company and its future performance looks strong as it continues to face roiling global conditions along with every other tech company. With its forward-looking and experienced executive team led by Krishna, we believe that IBM will continue to leverage its software, consulting, and infrastructure offerings to help its global customers, whatever happens with the global economy.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.
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Author Information
Daniel is the CEO of The Futurum Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise.
From the leading edge of AI to global technology policy, Daniel makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology investments. Daniel is a top 5 globally ranked industry analyst and his ideas are regularly cited or shared in television appearances by CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other sites around the world.
A 7x Best-Selling Author including his most recent book “Human/Machine.” Daniel is also a Forbes and MarketWatch (Dow Jones) contributor.
An MBA and Former Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Daniel is an Austin Texas transplant after 40 years in Chicago. His speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.
