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International Business Machines Corp.: Q2 FY2026 earnings call

What management said about Q2 FY2026, from the documents filed with the SEC on 22 July 2026: press release. Guidance figures: 1 kept. The quarter’s numbers.

Key takeaways

  • Revenue rose 1 percent: Quarter revenue was $17.2 billion, up 1 percent, and GAAP net income was $2.2 billion, down 1 percent. Six-month revenue was $33.1 billion, up 5 percent. Source
  • Operating EPS rose, GAAP EPS fell: Operating (non-GAAP) diluted EPS was $2.93, up 5 percent. GAAP diluted EPS was $2.27, down 2 percent. Six-month GAAP diluted EPS was $3.55, against $3.43.
  • Infrastructure revenue fell 7 percent: Infrastructure revenue was $3.8 billion, down 7 percent. IBM Z fell 42 percent and Hybrid Infrastructure 10 percent. Distributed Infrastructure rose 37 percent. Source
  • Operating pre-tax margin rose: Operating pre-tax income margin was 19.2 percent, up 0.3 point. GAAP pre-tax margin was 14.4 percent, down 0.9 point. The letter credited productivity initiatives for the operating margin expansion.
  • Large deals slipped past timelines: Management said numerous large deals did not close on expected timelines, driving most of the shortfall. It said it did not adapt and move quickly enough.
  • Client capex shifted toward hardware: Management said clients moved late-June capex to servers, storage and memory to secure supply-constrained infrastructure before expected price increases. The magnitude was not anticipated.
  • Free cash flow fell $0.3 billion: Operating cash flow was $2.6 billion, up $0.9 billion. Free cash flow was $2.5 billion, down $0.3 billion. Six-month free cash flow was $4.8 billion, flat year to year. Source

“We are confident in IBM's strategy and portfolio, and in our ability to capture growth opportunities ahead.”

Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer

Guidance

AreaPeriodFigureAgainst last quarter
Free cash flow SourceFull year 2026increase of about $1 billion year-over-yearKept

What changed from last quarter

  • New guidance: The July 14 letter deferred full-year expectations to the July 22 call. The July 22 release gives full-year revenue and pre-tax margin expectations.
  • Guidance kept: Management continues to expect full-year free cash flow to rise by about $1 billion year over year. Source
  • New: IBM is changing its go-to-market model to expand sales coverage across thousands of additional clients. Source
  • New: IBM is adding more specialized technical and client-facing talent, including Forward Deployed Engineers, as AI adoption scales. Source

Quarter results and full-year view

  • Revenue rose 1 percent: Quarter revenue was $17.2 billion, up 1 percent, and GAAP net income was $2.2 billion, down 1 percent. Six-month revenue was $33.1 billion, up 5 percent. Source
  • Operating EPS rose, GAAP EPS fell: Operating (non-GAAP) diluted EPS was $2.93, up 5 percent. GAAP diluted EPS was $2.27, down 2 percent. Six-month GAAP diluted EPS was $3.55, against $3.43.
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin rose: Adjusted EBITDA was $4.8 billion, a 27.8 percent margin against 27.6 percent. Six-month adjusted EBITDA was $8.8 billion, a 26.5 percent margin against 25.7 percent. Source

Segments and product lines

  • Software revenue grew 5 percent: Software revenue was $7.8 billion. Hybrid Cloud (Red Hat) rose 11 percent, Data 19 percent and Automation 4 percent. Transaction Processing fell 8 percent. Source
  • Consulting flat as reported: Consulting revenue was $5.3 billion, flat as reported and up 1 percent at constant currency. Strategy and Technology and Intelligent Operations were each flat as reported. Source
  • Infrastructure revenue fell 7 percent: Infrastructure revenue was $3.8 billion, down 7 percent. IBM Z fell 42 percent and Hybrid Infrastructure 10 percent. Distributed Infrastructure rose 37 percent. Source
  • Financing revenue rose 12 percent: Financing revenue was $0.2 billion, up 12 percent, or 11 percent at constant currency. Source

“Although we faced revenue headwinds late in the second quarter, we continued to focus on the fundamentals of our business, including driving productivity, strengthening our portfolio, and generating free cash flow,”

James Kavanaugh, IBM senior vice president and chief financial officer

Products and customers

  • Distributed Infrastructure set a record: Management said Power and Storage grew at a record pace in the quarter and built an order backlog of nearly $500 million. Source
  • Lightwell patches open-source flaws: Lightwell, a capability to address open source security vulnerabilities, had made more than 7,500 open source patches available within its first two weeks. Source
  • Early Lightwell adopters named: The July 14 letter named early adopters including Bank of America, BNY, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JPMorganChase. General availability was announced July 8.

Costs, margins and pricing

  • Operating pre-tax margin rose: Operating pre-tax income margin was 19.2 percent, up 0.3 point. GAAP pre-tax margin was 14.4 percent, down 0.9 point. The letter credited productivity initiatives for the operating margin expansion.
  • Expense lines moved: SG&A was $4,981 million, against $5,027 million. R&D was $2,311 million, up from $2,097 million. Intellectual property and custom development income was $166 million. Source

Demand and the quarter's shortfall

  • Large deals slipped past timelines: Management said numerous large deals did not close on expected timelines, driving most of the shortfall. It said it did not adapt and move quickly enough.
  • Client capex shifted toward hardware: Management said clients moved late-June capex to servers, storage and memory to secure supply-constrained infrastructure before expected price increases. The magnitude was not anticipated.
  • Cybersecurity concerns distracted clients: Management said clients were distracted by rapidly evolving, industry-wide cybersecurity concerns during the quarter.

Cash, capital and shareholder returns

  • Free cash flow fell $0.3 billion: Operating cash flow was $2.6 billion, up $0.9 billion. Free cash flow was $2.5 billion, down $0.3 billion. Six-month free cash flow was $4.8 billion, flat year to year. Source
  • Dividends paid $1.6 billion: The company returned $1.6 billion to shareholders through dividends in the quarter. Source
  • Cash fell and debt rose: Cash, restricted cash and marketable securities were $8.2 billion, down $6.3 billion from year-end 2025. Debt was $62.0 billion, including $13.0 billion of IBM Financing debt. Source
  • Acquisitions totaled $10.5 billion: Management said the company invested $10.5 billion in acquisitions this year. Source

Strategy, investment and talent

  • Quantum spend above $10 billion: Management plans to invest more than $10 billion in quantum over five years, spanning R&D, capex, manufacturing scaling, M&A and ecosystem expansion.
  • Anderon funded by CHIPS and IBM: Anderon is supported by $1 billion in CHIPS incentives from the Department of Commerce and a $1 billion cash contribution from IBM.
  • Productivity aimed at margin and cash: Management said AI-enabled software development, a more effective sales and marketing organization and supply chain optimization are meant to enhance margin and free cash flow. Source
  • Sales coverage expanded to thousands: IBM is accelerating changes to its go-to-market model, expanding sales coverage across thousands of additional clients. Source
  • Forward Deployed Engineers added: IBM is investing in more specialized technical and client-facing talent as AI adoption moves from experimentation to enterprise-scale deployment. Source

Coming up, as management said on 22 July 2026

  • Anderon quantum foundry build: Management announced a letter of intent to build Anderon, a pure-play quantum wafer foundry, with the Department of Commerce. Source
  • Dividend record and payment dates: The board approved a $1.69 quarterly dividend, with a record date of August 10, 2026 and payment on September 10, 2026. Source
  • Fault-tolerant quantum target 2029: Management said it remains on track to deliver the first large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. Source

Figures management reported

FigureReported
Distributed Infrastructure order backlog Sourcenearly $500 million
Distributed Infrastructure revenue growthup 37 percent
Total gross profit margin (GAAP) Source57.7 %
Infrastructure segment revenue Source$3,835 million
Infrastructure gross profit margin Source58.4 %

Risks management discussed

  • Demand: Late-June capex shifts toward supply-constrained hardware ahead of price increases affected client buying patterns in the quarter.
  • Operational: Management cited a shortfall in Z performance and the associated software stack, mainly in Transaction Processing.
  • Operational: Large deals not closing on expected timelines drove most of the quarter's shortfall, according to management.
  • External: Industry-wide cybersecurity concerns distracted clients during the quarter.
  • Demand: Management cited revenue headwinds late in the second quarter. Source

Earlier plans management reported on

  • Missed: Management had expected Infrastructure revenue to decline low-single digits for the year. It said actual performance was worse than that expectation.
  • Ahead: Management said z17 program-to-program stands near 130 percent, well ahead of z16, which it described as its top program on record.

Other quarters

Summarised with AI from the documents the company filed with the SEC. Every point is checked against the filing before it is shown: management’s own words word for word, figures against the line or table row they come from. A point that fails the check is left out. Source opens the filing at that line.