International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, has reported a 21.37 percent decrease in profit for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2014. The company earned $2,384 million or $2.29 a share in the first-quarter, compared with $3,032 million or $2.70 a share a year ago.

Revenue during the first-quarter dipped 3.95 percent to $22,484 million from $23,408 million in the last year period.

Gross margin expanded by 127 basis points over the last year period to 46.89 percent. Total expenses as a percentage of revenues increased to 33.64 percent from 30.21 percent in the same period last year. That resulted in contraction of 215 basis points in operating margin to 13.25 percent.

The company posted operating income of $2,980 million, compared with an operating income of $3,606 million in the previous year period.

As on Mar. 31, 2014, International Business Machines' cash balance stood at $9,409 million, down 11.11 percent or $1,176 million from Mar. 31, 2013.

''In the first quarter, we continued to take actions to transform parts of the business and to shift aggressively to our strategic growth areas including cloud, big data analytics, social, mobile and security,'' said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. ''As we move through 2014, we will begin to see the benefits from these actions. Over the long term, they will position us to drive growth and higher value for our clients.''

IBM expects full-year 2014 GAAP diluted earnings per share of at least $17, and operating (non-GAAP) diluted earnings per share of at least $18.

Working Capital

International Business Machines witnessed an increase in the working capital over the year. It stood at $6,901 million as at Mar. 31, 2014, up $77 million or 1.13 percent from $6,824 million on Mar. 31, 2013. The company's current ratio increased to 1.17 as at Mar. 31, 2014 from 1.16 on Mar. 31, 2013.

Debt Position

The company has witnessed an increase in total debt over the last year. As at Mar. 31, 2014, the company's total debt stood at $43,980 million, up 31.69 percent or $10,583 million from Mar. 31, 2013.

The company's total debt accounts for 35.86 percent of total assets on Mar. 31, 2014, compared with 28.48 percent on Mar. 31, 2013.

The company witnessed an increase in debt to equity ratio to 2.63 on Mar. 31, 2014 when compared with 1.74 on Mar. 31, 2013.

Interest coverage ratio, which determines how easily a company can pay interest expenses on outstanding debt, has declined to 28.38 from 38.36 in the same period last year.

Shares of IBM went down $6.39 or 3.25 percent to settle at $190.01on Thursday.