IBM Sales Have Fallen In 15 Straight Quarters

International Business Machines Corp. IBM has experienced 15 back-to-back quarters of plummeting sales. The tech giant's fourth quarter earnings report on Tuesday weren't any prettier.

Here's what analysts are saying.

Credit Suisse lowered its price target from $125.00 to $110.00, and reiterated its Underperform rating.

"Software revenues came in $6.8bn, down 11 percent yoy, and PTI margins were 39.4 percent, down 530bp yoy. Specifically what is concerning is that the decline in Software at constant currency is now running at –6 percent yoy, much worse than feared, and seems to be accelerating," the firm noted.

"While IBM attributes this to continued transition towards SaaS business and lower transactional revenues, we believe that this is practically due to high levels of hardware attach and negative shift towards cloud architectures."

Drexel Hamilton maintained a Buy rating.

Analysts at Drexel Hamilton see IBM as remaining in "transition mode" in 2016. "We believe the company has set the EPS bar low and sentiment around the stock remains very negative," the firm commented.

Drexel Hamilton noted that IBM "sports" a 4.1 percent dividend.

"Also, we believe the operating profit cycle will bottom out in1Q:16, while the stock trades at 9.6x our CY:16 EPS projection and sports a 4.1 percent dividend."

Barclays maintained an Underweight rating for IBM and lowered its PT to $125.00 from $146.00.

"We expect shares of IBM to be under pressure. 2016 EPS outlook of "at least $13.50" - implying a Y/Y deterioration of -9.5 percent - is likely to weigh on investor sentiment," the firm commented.

Forex negatives along with slowing growth in IBM's key strategic areas are also points to watch.