Image source: The Motley Fool. Date Wednesday, April 22, 2026, at 5 p.m. ET Call participants - Chief Executive Officer — Arvind Krishna - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer — James J. Kavanaugh - Vice President of Investor Relations — Olympia McNerney Need a quote from a Motley Fool analyst? Email pr@fool.com Takeaways - Revenue growth -- Grew 6%, reflecting balanced performance across segments and the durability of the company’s portfolio. - Operating pretax margin -- Expanded 140 basis points, indicating higher profitability and efficiency. - Free cash flow -- Rose 13% to $2.2 billion, representing the highest first-quarter free cash flow in a decade and a record margin. - Software revenue -- Increased 8%, with annual recurring revenue at $24.6 billion, up 10%. - Data revenue -- Climbed 16%, powered by generative AI demand and incremental contribution from Confluent and data stack acquisitions. - Red Hat -- Delivered 10% growth, with OpenShift surpassing $2 billion in ARR, and virtualization contracts exceeding $600 million since early 2024. - Infrastructure revenue -- Rose 12%; IBM Z posted 48% growth, with distributed infrastructure increasing at a double-digit rate. - Consulting revenue -- Grew 1%, with signings rising 6%, and generative AI comprising about 30% of the backlog. - Productivity savings -- Achieved $4.5 billion since 2023, expecting an additional $1 billion in 2026, driven by AI-enabled transformation. - Segment margins -- Infrastructure margin expanded 720 basis points, software margin up 60 basis points, consulting margin declined due to currency headwinds and reinvestment. - Strategic M&A activity -- Invested $10.5 billion in acquisitions with the closing of Confluent, contributing over 15 points to the projected 20%-25% full-year data revenue growth. - AI integration -- AI penetrates all business segments, including software, infrastructure, and consulting, with software AI revenue exceeding $1.5 billion,