IBM revenue falls short of expectations, shares fall

International Business Machines Corp, the world's largest technology services company, reported its seventh straight quarterly decline in revenue that also fell short of estimates, hurt by lower demand for its services and hardware.

The company's shares fell 2 percent to $184.39 in after-hours trade.

Revenue fell 5 percent to $27.7 billion in the fourth quarter, missing analysts expectation of $28.25 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

This is the fourth straight quarter that the company's revenue has fallen short of analysts' targets.

"In view of the company's overall full-year results, my senior team and I have recommended that we forgo our personal annual incentive payments for 2013," Chief Executive Ginni Rometty said in a statement.

Revenue from its system and technology unit, which includes servers and storage, fell 26.1 percent to $4.26 billion. Revenue from global technology services, its largest business, fell 3.6 percent to $9.92 billion.

Software revenue was the only bright spot growing 2.8 percent to $8.14 billion.

IBM has been moving steadily into higher-margin businesses such as software and cloud computing as it is struggling to sustain growth through its emerging markets business.

IBM expects a full-year adjusted profit of at least $18 per share, above analysts' expectations of $17.97 per share.

Net income for the fourth quarter rose to $6.2 billion, or $5.73 a share, from $5.8 billion, or $5.13 per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, it earned $6.13 per share, above analysts' estimates of $5.99 per share.

The stock closed at $188.43 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has gained about 2 percent since it reported third-quarter results in October.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee and Soham Chatterjee; Editing by Savio D'Souza)