international business machines corp shares ticked higher in the extended session wednesday after big blue topped earnings estimates and reiterated its freecashflow forecast for the year on “neutral” revenue growth ibm ibm shares rose 2 after hours following a 11 decline in the regular session to close at 12632 the company reported firstquarter net income of 927 million or 102 a share compared with 733 million or 82 cents a share in the yearago period adjusted earnings which exclude stockbased compensation expenses and other items were 136 a share compared with 140 a share in the yearago period ibm which now receives about threequarters of its revenue from tech services reported revenue barely rose to 1425 billion from 142 billion in the yearago quarter analysts surveyed by factset had forecast 126 a share on revenue of 1435 billion prior to the earnings report one analyst had said ibm would have to turn in “nearly pristine” results to support the stock even though ibm posted its biggest sales increase in nearly a decade while cutting thousands of jobs a quarter ago analysts were laserfocused on freecash flow or fcf for the first quarter that came in at 13 billion while analysts expected 16 billion ibm forecast that revenue growth would be “neutral” for the year compared with last year’s 6053 billion given current exchange rates and reiterated its forecast of 105 billion fcf analysts had estimated 207 a share on revenue of 1578 billion for the second quarter and 945 a share on revenue of 627 billion for the year analysts currently expect 1045 billion in fcf for the year