Big Blue reported its worst quarterly revenue in 14 years. Revenue of the world's largest technology services company fell 4.6 percent to $18.68 billion in the first quarter. They beat analysts' average estimate of $18.29 billion which was like a ray of gold in the darkness. Otherwise the story was of IBM having its 16th straight quarter of revenue decline.

Under Chief Executive Ginni Rometty, IBM has been moving toward areas such as cloud-based services, security software and data analytics, while trimming its traditional hardware business by exiting low-margin businesses. It also teamed up with the fruty cargo cult Apple to push its tablets and mobile gear into business. Dispite being hailed by the Tame Apple Press as a way of IBM making billions from businesses, that went about as well as we thought it would.

What IBM is experiencing is a huge falloff in its traditional businesses was dwarfing the company's ability to capture new revenue.

Revenue from "strategic imperatives," which includes cloud and mobile computing, data analytics, social and security software, rose about 14 percent in the first quarter. But revenue from the services fell 4.3 percent and hardware dropped by 21.8 percent,.

Excluding items, IBM earned $2.35 per share, beating the average analyst estimate of $2.09.

The company received a $1 billion refund in the quarter that lowered its effective tax rate to a negative 95.1 percent compared with 19.5 percent last year.

The company maintained its full-year adjusted earnings guidance of at least $13.50 per share. Wall Street was on average were expecting $13.55.