Exceeded expectations with accelerated revenue growth led by Software and Infrastructure; Raises outlook for full-year free cash flow

By IBM Corporation

IBM today announced third-quarter 2026 earnings results. "Disciplined execution throughout the quarter drove accelerated revenue growth and strong free cash flow. Our clients are now deploying Super Intelligence in ways that transform entire operating models, instead of simply addressing narrow or novel problems. IBM's technology and expertise are helping organizations drive growth and serve customers with greater speed, precision and efficiency than ever before," said Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. "For the full year, we continue to expect constant currency revenue growth in the range of four-to-five percent, and we now expect free cash flow to increase by more than $1 billion year-over-year."

Third-Quarter Highlights

• Revenue
  - Revenue of $17.1 billion, up 5 percent, up 6 percent at constant currency
  - Software revenue up 8 percent, up 9 percent at constant currency
  - Consulting revenue flat, up 2 percent at constant currency
  - Infrastructure revenue up 4 percent, up 5 percent at constant currency
• Profit
  - Gross Profit Margin: GAAP: 56.8 percent, down 50 basis points; Operating (Non-GAAP): 58.5 percent, down 20 basis points
  - Pre-Tax Income Margin: GAAP: 14.6 percent, down 30 basis points; Operating (Non-GAAP): 19.3 percent, up 70 basis points
• Cash Flow
  - Year to date, net cash from operating activities of $11.8 billion; free cash flow of $7.8 billion

"Demand across our portfolio combined with strong operational execution led to accelerated growth and solid operating pre-tax margin expansion in the quarter," said James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer. "Just as we are helping clients extract value from their operations with Super Intelligence, we are driving tangible returns through our productivity initiatives inside IBM. This approach fuels profit and free cash flow growth and enables us to continue to invest in our business while returning value to shareholders through our dividend."

Segment Results for Third Quarter

• Software — revenues of $7.8 billion, up 8 percent, up 9 percent at constant currency
  - Hybrid Cloud (Red Hat) up 11 percent
  - Automation down 3 percent
  - Data up 19 percent, up 20 percent at constant currency
  - Transaction Processing up 9 percent, up 10 percent at constant currency
   
• Consulting — revenues of $5.3 billion, flat, up 2 percent at constant currency
  - Strategy and Technology up 2 percent, up 4 percent at constant currency
  - Intelligent Operations down 2 percent, flat at constant currency
   
• Infrastructure — revenues of $3.7 billion, up 4 percent, up 5 percent at constant currency
  - Hybrid Infrastructure up 8 percent, up 9 percent at constant currency
        -- IBM Z down 20 percent, down 19 percent at constant currency
        -- Distributed Infrastructure up 31 percent, up 32 percent at constant currency
  - Infrastructure Support down 3 percent, down 2 percent at constant currency
   
• Financing — revenues of $0.2 billion, down 4 percent, down 3 percent at constant currency

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

In the third quarter, the company generated net cash from operating activities of $4.0 billion, up $0.9 billion year to year. IBM's free cash flow was $3.0 billion, up $0.7 billion year to year. The company returned $1.6 billion to shareholders in dividends in the third quarter.

For the first nine months of the year, the company generated net cash from operating activities of $11.8 billion, up $2.6 billion year to year. IBM's free cash flow was $7.8 billion, up $0.6 billion year to year.

IBM ended the third quarter with $11.1 billion of cash, restricted cash and marketable securities, down $3.4 billion from year-end 2025. The company invested $11.4 billion in acquisitions this year. Debt, including IBM Financing debt of $12.7 billion, totaled $63.8 billion, up $2.6 billion year to date.

Full-Year 2026 Expectations

• Revenue: The company continues to expect full-year constant currency revenue growth in the range of four-to-five percent. At current foreign exchange rates, currency is expected to be neutral to growth for the year
   
• Free cash flow: The company now expects full-year free cash flow to increase by more than $1 billion year-over-year

Dividend Declaration

The IBM board of directors approved a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.69 per common share, to stockholders of record on November 10, 2026. With payment of the December 10, 2026 dividend, IBM will have paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year 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-3q26. 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).