Why IBM Shareholders Have Something to Worry About

IBM (NYSE: IBM) shares recently dropped to a 52-week low after the company posted a mixed second quarter earnings report. Its revenue fell 5% annually to $19.29 billion, which missed estimates by $160 million. Its non-GAAP operating earnings rose less than 1% to $2.97 per share, but still beat expectations by $0.23.

The reason for Big Blue's revenue decline was a familiar one -- its higher-growth strategic imperatives (cloud, mobile, analytics, social, and security) couldn't grow fast enough to offset the ongoing declines at its older enterprise software and hardware businesses. But looking ahead, it's hard to see IBM's prospects improving anytime soon for four simple reasons.

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Source: Fool.com