Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 7, 2026
International Business Machines Corp (IBM)
A forensic read on International Business Machines Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
5.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
20.6
P / E (ttm)
32.4%
ROE
$222.5B
Market cap
2.90%
Dividend yield
7.6%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
International Business Machines Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+1.3%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +4% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+1.3%/yr). A change of direction: the count shrank over the full period (net -1.7%/yr since FY2011) but has grown across the recent window, so the two figures point opposite ways — read the recent window on totals versus per-share, since the full-period rate no longer describes what the count is doing now. That's ~1.3% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~4%.
+16.1%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +16.1% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +19% against revenue +8%. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 3% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
10.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 10.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising from 2% — around its ~10% cost of capital, so growth is roughly value-neutral.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$67.53B
Revenue Growth YoY+7.6%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+3.7%
Net Margin15.7%
Free Cash Flow$12.10B
Return on Equity32.4%
Debt / Equity1.88x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from International Business Machines Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?