IBM’s new ventures take off

Article Excerpt

IBM continues to shift to faster-growing fields as demand for its traditional mainframe computers slows. Those new businesses include cloud computing (the storage of files and programs using the Internet) and analytics software to process big data. The shift is paying off: the company just reported its third-straight quarterly sales increase after nearly six years of falling revenue. Almost half of that was from its new businesses. IBM $143.50 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 918.0 million; Market cap: $133.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.ibm.com) is one of the world’s largest computer companies, with operations in over 175 countries. Overall revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2018, rose 3.7%, to $20.0 billion from $19.3 billion a year earlier. That’s mainly due to improving demand for the company’s newer businesses such as cloud computing. Still, even sales of mainframe computers (11% of total revenue) jumped, rising 24.6%. That’s partly because recent U.S. tax reforms have encouraged major corporations to…