[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] IBM shares fell 6.5 percent in pre-market trading on Oct. 22 (local time), Reuters reported.
Reuters reported that questions are rising over whether IBM can sustain its growth after an analysis suggested its third-quarter software rebound was driven by contracts deferred from earlier quarters.
According to the report, Bank of America (BofA) Global Research analysts estimated that about $250 million of IBM’s third-quarter software growth came from contracts carried over from the second quarter. Without those contracts, the improvement was not large, they said.
IBM raised its forecast for software revenue growth this year to 7 to 8 percent from 6 to 8 percent. It kept its overall revenue growth forecast unchanged.
Third-quarter revenue at its transaction processing unit, which sells software related to mainframe computers, rose 9 percent. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna (아르빈드 크리슈나) said he did not expect that pace of growth to continue. "In particular, next year it will return to normal levels," he said.
IBM shares are down about 15 percent so far this year based on the Oct. 21 closing price.
Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)
delight@d-today.co.kr