IBM shares rose 4.08% following the announcement of Q3 results. The company forecasts FY17 diluted operating EPS of at least $13.80, compared to $13.75 consensus, with flat free cash flow on the year.
"In the third quarter we achieved double-digit growth in our strategic imperatives, extended our enterprise cloud and expanded our cognitive solutions business," said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.
Third-quarter cloud revenues increased 20% to $4.1bn. Cloud revenue over the last 12 months was $15.8bn, including $8.8bn delivered as-a-service and $7.0bn for hardware, software and services to enable IBM clients to implement comprehensive cloud solutions.
The annual exit run rate for as-a-service revenue increased to $9.4bn from $7.5bn in the third quarter of 2016. In the quarter, revenues from analytics increased 5%. Revenues from mobile increased 7% and revenues from security increased 51% (up 49% adjusting for currency).