By Maria Armental

International Business Machines Corp. reported higher profit and a 6.5% revenue increase in the latest period,

Fourth-quarter profit rose to $2.33 billion from $1.36 billion a year earlier. On a per-share basis, profit rose to $2.57.

Revenue rose to $16.7 billion from $15.68 billion a year earlier, ahead of analysts' projected $15.96 billion.

The company ended the year at a $5.74 billion profit on $57.35 billion in revenue, compared with a 2020 profit of $5.59 billion and $55.18 billion in revenue.

Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said when IBM reported third-quarter results that a spending pause from customers had affected mostly hardware and Kyndryl, the tech services company that IBM spun off in November.

On Monday, Mr. Krishna pointed to the revenue growth, saying that hybrid cloud adoption drove growth in software and consulting.

"Our fourth-quarter results give us confidence in our ability to deliver our objectives of sustained mid-single digit revenue growth and strong free cash flow in 2022," Mr. Krishna said.


Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-24-22 1633ET