By Trefis Team
Publication Date: 2026-08-19 15:25:00
The revenue guidance came down after the second-quarter miss; the operating pretax margin and free-cash-flow commitments did not.
International Business Machines (IBM) has traded essentially flat over the past year while the S&P 500 returned about 20%, and the shares now sit near 71% of their 52-week high. The company also cut its 2026 revenue growth guide after a fiscal Q2 2026 shortfall. The number worth arguing about is not the revenue line that slipped, but the profit commitment management did not move with it.
The Revenue Guide Came Down, And The 100-Basis-Point Margin Guide Did Not
The new revenue growth range is 4% to 5%, down from the 5%-plus management was defending in April. The company still expects 100 basis points of operating pretax margin expansion in 2026, matching the roughly one point it guided to in April, and still expects free cash flow to grow by about $1 billion, with productivity actions more than offsetting the…
