IBM broke its 22-quarter streak of declining revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017, according to company financial results released Jan. 18.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant reported $22.5 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter, a 4 percent increase from $21.8 billion the company posted during the same period in 2016. This improvement marks the first quarter IBM has reported revenue growth in more than five years.
However, the company's 2017 revenue still fell compared to previous years, according to recently released full-year financial results.
IBM reported full-year 2017 revenue of $79.1 billion, a 1 percent decrease from $79.9 billion in fiscal year 2016. The company also posted $5.8 billion in net income for 2017, representing a 51 percent drop from $11.9 billion in 2016.
In its full-year financial results, IBM highlighted $36.5 billion in earnings from "strategic imperatives," which encompass the company's newer initiatives like artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data analytics. These projects represented 46 percent of the company's full-year revenue in 2017.
"Over the past several years we have invested aggressively in technology and our people to reposition IBM," said James Kavanaugh, senior vice president and CFO at IBM. He added IBM will focus on AI, cloud computing, information security and blockchain development in 2018.