IBM took another battering from investors even as it unexpectedly beat analysts’ estimates in its fourth quarter earnings. Although IBM execs were predictably upbeat over the performance, investors seemed to disagree as Big Blue’s shares slumped by around 3.5 percent in after-hours trading.

The most important numbers are these: $22.06 billion in revenues, compared to the $22.04 billion Wall Street was expecting. Meanwhile, earnings per share (EPS) hit $4.84 a share versus the expected $4.81 per share.

However, IBM’s fourth quarter revenues were still down nine percent year-over-year, the fifteenth straight quarter of revenue decline. IBM also said its adjusted EPS was down 17 percent from the same quarter one year ago. It explained that part of the EPS growth had to do with a lowered tax rate, which fell 7.1 percent to 14.7 percent compared to last year.

IBM shares tumbled more than 3.5 percent on the news that it was giving guidance of “at least” $13.50 per share, lower than the $15.00 consensus on Wall Street.

For the entire year, Big Blue posted $81.7 billion in revenues, hitting expectations more or less on the nose. Full year non-GAAP operating earnings per share were $14.92 per share, which was within the range of guidance IBM posted last year, but slightly lower than the $14.93 Wall Street was hoping for.

Still, it’s some way short of the orginal $20 EPS goal that IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty had called for in her “Roadmap 2015” plan, which was abandoned in the third quarter of 2014.

Rometty has launched an ambitious plan to transform IBM into a provider of mostly cloud and analytics products. That transition has seen IBM acquire almost 40 companies over the last three years. The core strategic imperative businesses grew by 26 percent to $29 billion in the last year, and now account for 35 percent of all Big Blue’s revenues. “We continue to make significant progress in our transformation to higher value,” said Rometty in a statement.

Not everyone is quite so enthusiastic, though. AB Bernstein analysts told The Register that IBM was likely to be “alarmed” at the drop in its share price. “Software and services are the most profitable segments of IBM,” AB Bernstein noted. “Continued weakness in either or both of these segments would be incrementally worrisome.”

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