IBM on April 17 reported $19.1 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2018, marking its second consecutive quarter of revenue growth.
In January, the Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant broke its 22-quarter streak of declining revenues, reporting $22.5 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2017, a 4 percent increase from the same period one year prior. The improvement represented the first quarter IBM has reported revenue growth in more than five years.
In the first quarter of 2018, IBM's revenue comprised a 5 percent increase from $18.2 billion the company reported in the first quarter of 2017. IBM officials attributed the continued improvement to earnings from "strategic imperatives," the company's newer initiatives like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics. These projects represented 47 percent of the company's first-quarter revenue.
Revenue from strategic imperatives topped $9 billion in the first quarter, a 15 percent increase from one year prior. Cloud revenue hit $4.2 billion, a 20 percent increase from the first quarter of 2017.
"In the first quarter we maintained momentum in our business, with reported revenue growth in total and across our major segments," Ginni Rometty, chairman, president and CEO of IBM, said in an April 17 company statement.