IBM’s Dividend Survived the Old IBM. Can It Survive the New One?

Quick Read

• IBM’s 31-year dividend streak survives on penny raises, with the quarterly payout up just $0.06 since 2021 as shares fell 22%.

• Cisco mirrors IBM’s hardware-to-software pivot most closely, while Oracle sacrifices dividend growth to aggressively reinvest in AI and cloud.

• IBM’s $14.7B free cash flow easily funds its dividend, but $61B in debt and a $10B quantum commitment claim the incremental dollars.

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IBM (NYSE:IBM) has paid a quarterly dividend every year since 1916 and announced its 31st consecutive year of dividend increases in early 2026. The stock tells a less comfortable story. Shares closed at $225.47, down 22.31% year to date. The company funding that streak now looks very little like the one that built it.

Penny Raises Replaced Real Raises

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