IBM revenue falls for the 13th straight quarter

(Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp reported its 13th consecutive fall in quarterly revenue on Monday, as it continued to shed low-margin businesses and the strong dollar weighed on Big Blue's results.

Shares of the world's largest technology services company, which reported its 13th consecutive fall in quarterly revenue, fell 4 percent in after-market trading.

IBM is deep in transition, and has been selling businesses such as low-end servers, cash registers, and semiconductors to focus on high-growth areas like security software, cloud services and data analytics.

The company, which sold its x86 server business to Lenovo Group Ltd last year, continued realigning its operations with the sale of its loss-making semiconductor unit to contract-chipmaker Globalfoundries Inc this month.

The Armonk, New York-based company's total revenue fell to $20.81 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, from $24.05 billion a year earlier, missing the average analyst estimate of $20.95 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

IBM, which gets more than half its revenue from overseas, said its quarterly results were also hurt by a strong dollar.

The dollar has risen more than 21 percent against a basket of currencies in the past 12 months.

Consolidated net income dropped to $3.45 billion, or $3.50 per share, for the second quarter ended June 30, from $4.14 billion, $4.12 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, IBM earned $3.84 per share, beating the average analyst estimate of a profit of $3.78 per share.

Up to Monday's close, IBM's shares had risen about 8 percent this year.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Jennings)