IBM falls after sales in new business fail to impress bulls

Disappointing results: A file picture showing a woman looking out from the IBM Building in New York. Revenue in the newer businesses “missed whisper expectations,” which disappointed the most bullish scenarios. — AP

NEW YORK: International Business Machines Corp (IBM) managed to increase sales for the first time in almost six years, but that growth wasn’t fuelled as much by cloud computing and other new products as some analysts had projected, causing shares to tumble.

“The bulls were hoping for a beat on that segment,” said Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer at GBH Insights. Revenue in the newer businesses “missed whisper expectations,” which disappointed the most bullish scenarios, he said.