IBM has reported a surprise jump in revenue, driven largely by its cloud business, according to Reuters.

IBM has faced increasing criticism from investors eager to see its cloud strategy pay off. Monday we wrote about how investors have been growing impatient and there has even been talk of activist investors buying a stake in the company to force a change. The issues stem from the perception that IBM is falling behind AWS, Microsoft and Google in the cloud wars.

If the company’s latest earnings are any indication, however, it appears IBM has provided the answer its investors wanted. The company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday, posting the first rise in revenue in six quarters. While the overall rise in revenue was only 0.1%, for a total of $21.78 billion for the quarter, the cloud business saw a rise of 21% to $6.8 billion for the quarter.

These results should go a long way toward buying IBM some goodwill from investors, especially if the company can continue building on its momentum.