Shares of (NYSE: IBM) took a hard hit on Thursday, following the release of first-quarter results and the announcement of a $6.4 billion acquisition in the cloud computing space. The results were solid enough, but IBM investors wanted a stronger artificial intelligence (AI) push. As a result, IBM shares traded 9.6% lower at noon ET.

Let's start with the earnings report. First-quarter sales rose 1.5% year over year, landing at $14.5 billion. That's a rounding error away from the consensus analyst projection of $14.6 billion. On the bottom line, adjusted earnings increased by 24% to $1.68 per diluted share. Here, your average analyst would have settled for $1.60 per share. All in all, that's a solid print.

Management doubled down on the full-year financial forecast it provided three months ago. As a reminder, that means single-digit revenue growth with free cash flow of roughly $12 billion in 2024 as a whole.

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Source Fool.com