IBM RELEASES FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS

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IBM RELEASES FIRST-QUARTER RESULTS

PR Newswire

Double-digit Software and Infrastructure revenue growth; Strong margin expansion and double-digit profit and free cash flow growth

ARMONK, N.Y., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced first-quarter 2026 earnings results.

"The first quarter was a strong start to the year with broad-based revenue growth across our segments. These results reflect the integrated value of our portfolio and the trust clients put in us to improve their operations. As clients scale use cases, AI continues to be a tailwind for our global business. IBM products and services are helping clients orchestrate, deploy and govern AI across hybrid environments," said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Given this strong start, we continue to expect more than 5 percent constant currency revenue growth and an increase of about $1 billion in year-over-year free cash flow in 2026."

First-Quarter Highlights

  • Revenue
    - Revenue of $15.9 billion, up 9 percent, up 6 percent at constant currency
    - Software revenue up 11 percent, up 8 percent at constant currency
    - Consulting revenue up 4 percent, up 1 percent at constant currency
    - Infrastructure revenue up 15 percent, up 12 percent at constant currency
  • Profit
    - Gross Profit Margin: GAAP: 56.2 percent, up 100 basis points; Operating (Non-GAAP):
       57.7 percent, up 110 basis points
    - Pre-Tax Income Margin: GAAP: 8.7 percent, up 80 basis points; Operating (Non-GAAP):
      13.4 percent, up 140 basis points
  • Cash Flow
    - Year to date, net cash from operating activities of $5.2 billion; free cash flow of $2.2 billion

FIRST-QUARTER 2026 INCOME STATEMENT SUMMARY



Revenue


Gross

Profit



Gross

Profit

Margin



Pre-tax

Income


Pre-tax

Income

Margin


Net

Income


Diluted

Earnings

Per Share

GAAP from

Continuing

Operations

$ 15.9 B



$   8.9 B



56.2

%


$   1.4 B



8.7

%


$   1.2 B



$   1.28


Year/Year

9

% (1)


11

%


1.0

Pts


20

%


0.8

Pts


15

%


14

%

Operating

(Non-GAAP)




$   9.2 B



57.7

%


$   2.1 B



13.4

%


$   1.8 B



$   1.91


Year/Year




12

%


1.1

Pts


23

%


1.4

Pts


20

%


19

%

(1)  6% at constant currency.

"Our solid revenue growth, portfolio mix and productivity initiatives drove double-digit profit and free cash flow growth in the quarter," said James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer. "The durability of our portfolio combined with our disciplined execution continues to give us the financial flexibility needed to both invest in our business and return value to shareholders through our dividend."

Segment Results for First Quarter

  • Software — revenues of $7.1 billion, up 11 percent, up 8 percent at constant currency:
    - Hybrid Cloud (Red Hat) up 13 percent, up 10 percent at constant currency
    - Automation up 10 percent, up 7 percent at constant currency
    - Data up 19 percent, up 16 percent at constant currency
    - Transaction Processing up 6 percent, up 2 percent at constant currency

  • Consulting — revenues of $5.3 billion, up 4 percent, up 1 percent at constant currency:
    - Strategy and Technology up 4 percent, up 1 percent at constant currency
    - Intelligent Operations up 4 percent, up 1 percent at constant currency

  • Infrastructure — revenues of $3.3 billion, up 15 percent, up 12 percent at constant currency:
    - Hybrid Infrastructure up 28 percent, up 25 percent at constant currency
          -- IBM Z up 51 percent, up 48 percent at constant currency
          -- Distributed Infrastructure up 17 percent, up 13 percent at constant currency
    - Infrastructure Support down 2 percent, down 6 percent at constant currency

  • Financing — revenues of $0.2 billion, up 15 percent, up 10 percent at constant currency

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

In the first quarter, the company generated net cash from operating activities of $5.2 billion, up $0.8 billion year to year. IBM's free cash flow was $2.2 billion, up $0.3 billion year to year. The company returned $1.6 billion to shareholders in dividends in the first quarter and invested in the acquisition of Confluent.

IBM ended the first quarter with $11.8 billion of cash, restricted cash and marketable securities, down $2.6 billion from year-end 2025. Debt, including IBM Financing debt of $12.8 billion, totaled $66.4 billion, up $5.1 billion year to date.

Full-Year 2026 Expectations

  • Revenue: The company continues to expect full-year constant currency revenue growth of more than 5 percent. At current foreign exchange rates, currency is expected to be about a half-point to one-point tailwind to growth for the year
  • Free cash flow: The company continues to expect full-year free cash flow to increase by about $1 billion year-over-year

Dividend Declaration

The IBM board of directors declared an increase in the regular quarterly cash dividend to $1.69 per common share, payable June 10, 2026 to stockholders of record as of May 8, 2026.

This is the 31st year in a row that IBM has increased its quarterly cash dividend. IBM has paid consecutive quarterly dividends since 1916.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the company's current assumptions regarding future business and financial performance. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the following: a downturn in economic environment and client spending budgets; a failure of the company's innovation initiatives; damage to the company's reputation; risks from investing in growth opportunities; failure of the company's intellectual property portfolio to prevent competitive offerings and the failure of the company to obtain necessary licenses; the company's ability to successfully manage acquisitions, alliances and divestitures, including integration challenges, failure to achieve objectives, the assumption or retention of liabilities and higher debt levels; fluctuations in financial results; impact of local legal, economic, political, health and other conditions; the company's failure to meet growth and productivity objectives; ineffective internal controls; the company's use of accounting estimates; impairment of the company's goodwill or amortizable intangible assets; the company's ability to attract and retain key employees and its reliance on critical skills; impacts of relationships with critical suppliers; product and service quality issues; the development and use of AI, including the company's increased AI solutions and use of AI technologies; impacts of business with government clients; reliance on third party distribution channels and ecosystems; cybersecurity and data protection considerations; adverse effects related to climate change and other environmental matters; tax matters; legal proceedings and investigatory risks; the company's pension plans; currency fluctuations and customer financing risks; impact of changes in market liquidity conditions and customer credit risk on receivables; risk factors related to IBM securities; and other risks, uncertainties and factors discussed in the company's Form 10-Qs, Form 10-K and in the company's other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or in materials incorporated therein by reference.

Any forward-looking statement in this release speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

Presentation of Information in this Press Release

In an effort to provide investors with additional information regarding the company's results as determined by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), the company has also disclosed in this press release the following non-GAAP information, which management believes provides useful information to investors:

  • adjusting for currency (i.e., at constant currency);
  • presenting operating (non-GAAP) earnings per share amounts and related income statement items;
  • free cash flow;
  • net cash from operating activities excluding IBM Financing receivables;
  • adjusted EBITDA;
  • adjusted EBITDA margin.

The rationale for management's use of these non-GAAP measures is included in Exhibit 99.2 in the Form 8-K that includes this press release and is being submitted today to the SEC.

Conference Call and Webcast

IBM's regular quarterly earnings conference call is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. ET, today. The Webcast may be accessed via a link at https://www.ibm.com/investor/events/earnings-1q26. Presentation charts will be available shortly before the Webcast.

Financial Results Below (certain amounts may not add due to use of rounded numbers; percentages presented are calculated from the underlying whole-dollar amounts).

Contact:       IBM
                    Tim Davidson, 914-844-7847
                    tfdavids@us.ibm.com 
    
                    Erin McElwee, 347-920-6825
                    erin.mcelwee@ibm.com 

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

COMPARATIVE FINANCIAL RESULTS

(Unaudited; $ in millions except per share amounts)



Three Months Ended
March 31,



2026



2025


REVENUE BY SEGMENT






Software

$        7,052



$        6,336


Consulting

5,272



5,068


Infrastructure

3,326



2,886


Financing

220



191


Other

48



61


TOTAL REVENUE

15,917



14,541








GROSS PROFIT

8,950



8,031








GROSS PROFIT MARGIN






Software

82.8

%


83.6

%

Consulting

27.5

%


27.3

%

Infrastructure

56.9

%


52.8

%

Financing

43.4

%


45.8

%







TOTAL GROSS PROFIT MARGIN

56.2

%


55.2

%







EXPENSE AND OTHER INCOME






SG&A

5,089



4,886


R&D

2,173



1,950


Intellectual property and custom development income

(172)



(253)


Other (income) and expense

(1)



(165)


Interest expense

473



455


TOTAL EXPENSE AND OTHER INCOME

7,562



6,873








INCOME FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS

BEFORE INCOME TAXES

1,387



1,158


Pre-tax margin

8.7

%


8.0

%

Provision for/(benefit from) income taxes

172



103


Effective tax rate

12.4

%


8.9

%







INCOME FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS

$        1,216



$        1,054








DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS






Income from discontinued operations, net of taxes

0



1








NET INCOME

$        1,216



$        1,055








EARNINGS PER SHARE OF COMMON STOCK






Assuming dilution






Continuing operations

$         1.28



$         1.12


Discontinued operations

$         0.00



$         0.00


TOTAL

$         1.28



$         1.12








Basic






Continuing operations

$         1.30



$         1.14


Discontinued operations

$         0.00



$         0.00


TOTAL

$         1.30



$         1.14








WEIGHTED-AVERAGE NUMBER OF COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING (M's)






Assuming dilution

952.1



945.4


Basic

938.5



928.0


 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

 (Unaudited)


($ in millions)


At March 31,
2026


At December 31,
2025

ASSETS:





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents


$            10,819


$              13,587

Restricted cash


45


54

Marketable securities


964


830

Notes and accounts receivable - trade, net


6,493


8,112

Short-term financing receivables





  Held for investment, net


5,767


7,344

  Held for sale


743


1,131

Other accounts receivable, net


1,242


1,052

Inventories


1,476


1,220

Deferred costs


1,157


1,084

Prepaid expenses and other current assets


3,209


2,530

Total current assets


31,914


36,944






Property, plant and equipment, net


5,781


5,899

Operating right-of-use assets, net


3,219


3,129

Long-term financing receivables, net


7,014


7,708

Prepaid pension assets


7,578


7,544

Deferred costs


831


825

Deferred taxes


8,552


8,610

Goodwill


74,709


67,717

Intangibles, net


14,624


11,391

Investments and sundry assets


2,009


2,112

Total assets


$          156,229


$            151,880






LIABILITIES:





Current Liabilities:





Taxes


$              2,053


$                2,347

Short-term debt


8,655


6,424

Accounts payable


4,039


4,756

Compensation and benefits


3,941


4,114

Deferred income


17,034


16,101

Operating lease liabilities


798


800

Other liabilities


3,582


4,116

Total current liabilities


40,101


38,658






Long-term debt


57,706


54,836

Retirement-related obligations


8,763


9,018

Deferred income


4,195


4,271

Operating lease liabilities


2,643


2,547

Other liabilities


9,767


9,810

Total liabilities


123,174


119,139






EQUITY:





IBM stockholders' equity:





Common stock


63,936


63,318

Retained earnings


155,327


155,648

Treasury stock - at cost


(170,874)


(170,605)

Accumulated other comprehensive income/(loss)


(15,415)


(15,713)

Total IBM stockholders' equity


32,974


32,648






Noncontrolling interests


81


93

Total equity


33,056


32,740






Total liabilities and equity


$          156,229


$            151,880

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

(Unaudited)




Three Months Ended
March 31,

($ in millions)


2026


2025 (1)

Cash flows from operating activities:





Net income


$        1,216


$        1,055

Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash provided by operating activities:





Depreciation (2)


555


536

Amortization of capitalized software and acquired intangible assets


719


641

Stock-based compensation


506


401

Net (gain)/loss on divestitures, asset sales and other


(11)


(22)

Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions/divestitures


2,185


1,759

Net cash provided by operating activities


5,169


4,370






Cash flows from investing activities:





Payments for property, plant and equipment


(232)


(244)

Proceeds from disposition of property, plant and equipment/other


8


74

Investment in software


(159)


(151)

Purchases of marketable securities and other investments


(1,612)


(6,486)

Proceeds from disposition of marketable securities and other investments


1,971


927

Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired


(10,465)


(7,098)

Divestiture of businesses, net of cash transferred


1


(1)

Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities


(10,489)


(12,979)






Cash flows from financing activities:





Proceeds from new debt


7,437


8,378

Payments to settle debt


(2,928)


(1,257)

Short-term borrowings/(repayments) less than 90 days - net


0


(29)

Common stock repurchases for tax withholdings


(350)


(284)

Proceeds from issuance of shares


178


216

Financing - other


(42)


(32)

Cash dividends paid


(1,576)


(1,549)

Net cash provided by/(used in) financing activities


2,719


5,443






Effect of exchange rate changes on cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash


(177)


167

Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash


(2,777)


(2,999)






Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at the beginning of the period


13,640


14,160

Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at the end of the period


$       10,864


$       11,161

____________________

(1) Reclassified to align with the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows presentation.

(2) Includes operating lease right-of-use assets amortization.

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

GAAP NET INCOME TO ADJUSTED EBITDA RECONCILIATION

(Unaudited)




Three Months Ended

March 31,

($ in billions)


2026

2025

Yr/Yr

Net income as reported (GAAP)


$    1.2

$    1.1

$    0.2

Less: income from discontinued operations, net of tax


0.0

0.0

0.0

Income from continuing operations


1.2

1.1

0.2

Provision for/(benefit from) income taxes from continuing ops.


0.2

0.1

0.1

Pre-tax income from continuing operations (GAAP)


1.4

1.2

0.2

Non-operating adjustments (before tax)





Acquisition-related charges (1)


0.6

0.6

0.1

Non-operating retirement-related costs/(income)


0.1

0.0

0.1






Operating (non-GAAP) pre-tax income from continuing ops.


2.1

1.7

0.4






Net interest expense


0.3

0.3

0.1

Depreciation/amortization of non-acquired intangible assets


0.7

0.7

0.0

Stock-based compensation


0.5

0.4

0.1

Workforce rebalancing charges


0.3

0.3

0.0

Corporate (gains) and charges (2)


0.0

0.0

0.0






Adjusted EBITDA


$    4.0

$    3.4

$    0.6






Revenue


$  15.9

$  14.5

9 %

GAAP net income margin


7.6 %

7.3 %

0.4pts

Adjusted EBITDA margin


25.0 %

23.4 %

1.7pts

____________________

(1) Primarily consists of amortization of acquired intangible assets.

(2) Primarily consists of unique corporate actions such as gains on divestitures and asset sales.

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

SEGMENT DATA

(Unaudited)




Three Months Ended March 31, 2026















($ in millions)


Software



Consulting



Infrastructure



Financing


Revenue


$          7,052



$          5,272



$             3,326



$            220


Segment profit


$          2,099



$             558



$                524



$            118


Segment profit margin


29.8

%


10.6

%


15.8

%


53.8

%

Change YTY revenue


11.3

%


4.0

%


15.3

%


14.8

%

Change YTY revenue - constant currency


7.9

%


0.9

%


11.7

%


10.2

%




Three Months Ended March 31, 2025















($ in millions)


 Software



Consulting



Infrastructure



Financing


Revenue


$          6,336



$          5,068



$             2,886



$            191


Segment profit


$          1,847



$             558



$                248



$              69


Segment profit margin


29.1

%


11.0

%


8.6

%


35.8

%

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

U.S. GAAP TO OPERATING (Non-GAAP) RESULTS RECONCILIATION

(Unaudited; $ in millions except per share amounts)



Three Months Ended March 31, 2026



Continuing Operations



GAAP



Acquisition-

Related

Adjustments (1)



Retirement-

Related

Adjustments (2)



Tax

Reform

Impacts



Operating

(Non-GAAP)


Gross profit

$  8,950



$                  237



$                     —



$          —



$          9,187


Gross profit margin

56.2

%


1.5

pts


pts


pts


57.7

%

SG&A

$  5,089



$                 (408)



$                     —



$          —



$          4,682


Other (income) & expense

(1)





(96)





(98)


Total expense & other (income)

7,562



(409)



(96)





7,057


Pre-tax income from continuing operations

1,387



646



96





2,129


Pre-tax income margin from continuing

operations

8.7

%


4.1

pts


0.6

pts


pts


13.4

%

Provision for/(benefit from) income taxes (3)

$     172



$                  137



$                      3



$           (4)



$             308


Effective tax rate

12.4

%


2.7

pts


(0.4)

pts


(0.2)

pts


14.5

%

Income from continuing operations

$  1,216



$                  508



$                    94



$            4



$          1,821


Income margin from continuing operations

7.6

%


3.2

pts


0.6

pts


0.0

pts


11.4

%

Diluted earnings per share: continuing

operations

$    1.28



$                 0.53



$                 0.10



$       0.00



$            1.91




Three Months Ended March 31, 2025



Continuing Operations



GAAP



Acquisition-

Related

Adjustments (1)



Retirement-

Related

Adjustments (2)



Tax

Reform

Impacts



Operating

(Non-GAAP)


Gross profit

$  8,031



$                  201



$                     —



$          —



$          8,232


Gross profit margin

55.2

%


1.4

pts


pts


pts


56.6

%

SG&A

$  4,886



$                 (353)



$                     —



$          —



$          4,533


Other (income) & expense

(165)





(23)





(187)


Total expense & other (income)

6,873



(357)



(23)





6,494


Pre-tax income from continuing operations

1,158



557



23





1,738


Pre-tax income margin from continuing

operations

8.0

%


3.8

pts


0.2

pts


pts


12.0

%

Provision for/(benefit from) income taxes (3)

$     103



$                  128



$                   (12)



$            2



$             221


Effective tax rate

8.9

%


4.5

pts


(0.8)

pts


0.1

pts


12.7

%

Income from continuing operations

$  1,054



$                  429



$                    35



$           (2)



$          1,517


Income margin from continuing operations

7.3

%


3.0

pts


0.2

pts


0.0

pts


10.4

%

Diluted earnings per share: continuing

operations

$    1.12



$                 0.45



$                 0.04



$       0.00



$            1.60


____________________

(1) Includes amortization of acquired intangible assets, in-process R&D, transaction costs, applicable retention, restructuring and related expenses, 
      tax charges related to acquisition integration and pre-closing charges, such as financing costs.

(2) Includes amortization of prior service costs, interest cost, expected return on plan assets, amortized actuarial gains/losses, the impacts of any plan 
      curtailments/settlements and pension insolvency costs and other costs.

(3) The tax impact on operating (non-GAAP) pre-tax income from continuing operations is calculated under the same accounting principles applied to 
      the GAAP pre-tax income.

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

GAAP OPERATING CASH FLOW TO FREE CASH FLOW RECONCILIATION

(Unaudited)




Three Months Ended
March 31,

($ in millions)


2026


2025

Net cash provided by operating activities per GAAP


$     5,169


$     4,370






Less: change in IBM Financing receivables


2,565


2,087






Net cash from operating activities excl. IBM Financing receivables


2,604


2,283






Capital expenditures, net


(384)


(321)






Free cash flow


$     2,220


$     1,962

 

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

GAAP OPERATING CASH FLOW TO ADJUSTED EBITDA RECONCILIATION

(Unaudited)




Three Months Ended
March 31,

($ in billions)


2026


2025

Net cash provided by operating activities


$      5.2


$      4.4






Add:





Net interest expense


0.3


0.3

Provision for/(benefit from) income taxes from continuing operations


0.2


0.1






Less change in:





Financing receivables


2.6


2.1

Net (gain)/loss on divestitures, assets sales and other (1)


0.0


0.0

Other assets and liabilities/other, net (1,2)


(0.9)


(0.7)






Adjusted EBITDA


$      4.0


$      3.4






Revenue


$    15.9


$    14.5

Net cash provided by operating activities margin


32.5 %


30.1 %

Adjusted EBITDA margin


25.0 %


23.4 %

____________________

(1) Reclassified to align with the presentation of similar line items in the Statement of Cash Flows.

(2) Mainly consists of Changes in operating assets and liabilities, net of acquisitions/divestitures in the Statement of Cash Flows chart,

      workforce rebalancing charges, non-operating impacts, and corporate (gains) and charges, less the change in Financing receivables.

 

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SOURCE IBM