Tencent Securities News reported in the early morning of July 19, Beijing time. According to a report by the US financial website MarketWatch, IBM released the company's financial report for the second quarter of fiscal year 2017 after the US stock market closed on Tuesday. The report shows that IBM's sales declined year-on-year for the 21st consecutive quarter, but the company's cloud business revenue continued to grow. After the financial report was released, IBM shares fell nearly 2% in after-hours trading.

IBM's net profit for the second quarter was $2.3 billion and earnings per share were $2.48 billion; sales were $19.3 billion. This means IBM's net profit fell 7% and revenue fell 5% compared to the same period last year. Excluding the impact of one-time items such as mergers and acquisitions transactions and retirement-related expenses, IBM's adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter were $2.97, up 1% from the same period last year. In contrast, according to a survey by financial information provider FactSet, analysts previously expected IBM's adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter to be $2.74 per share and sales of $19.5 billion.

Cloud business revenue increased 15% year over year in the second quarter to $3.9 billion. At the same time, IBM kept its expectations for full-year results unchanged.

On the same day, IBM's stock price rose $0.99 during regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $154.00, an increase of 0.65%. In subsequent after-hours trading up to 16:25 EST (4:25 Beijing time on the 19th), IBM shares fell $3.03 to $150.97, or 1.97%. (Nebula)