IBM reports Q1 2026 earnings April 28 with analysts cutting price targets across the board. Short interest climbed 4% over the past month while Wall Street trimmed targets by as much as $60, reflecting caution ahead of the print.
Short interest stands at 2.54% of free float as of April 23. That's up 2.8% over the past week and 4.2% over the past month. Days to cover sits at 5.27 based on the latest FINRA settlement data. Cost to borrow rose 6% week-over-week to 0.53%, up 16% over the past month. Utilisation climbed to 3.09%, well below the 52-week high of 4.41%. Short sellers have added to positions steadily since mid-March, signaling skepticism heading into the quarter.
The put/call ratio printed 0.81 on April 24, below the 20-day mean of 0.84. The z-score of -1.38 indicates moderately bullish sentiment. PCR sits well within the 52-week range of 0.62 to 1.07. No unusual skew detected.
Wall Street rates IBM a hold with 8 hold ratings and 1 outperform out of a limited coverage universe. The mean price target is $284, implying upside from current levels. But the trend is decisively negative. Wedbush's Dan Ives cut his target from $340 to $320 on April 23 while maintaining outperform. Evercore's Amit Daryanani also lowered his target from $345 to $310 the same day. RBC Capital slashed from $361 to $330 on April 17. Oppenheimer dropped from $380 to $320 on April 16. Stifel cut from $340 to $290 on April 8. Morgan Stanley's Erik Woodring was the outlier, raising from $215 to $225 on April 23 while holding equal-weight.
According to Benzinga's bull case, IBM demonstrates strong software segment growth with Red Hat driving 7-8% organic revenue expansion and management guiding for over 5% revenue growth in 2026. Benzinga's bear case notes heightened competition from emerging technologies like Anthropic's Claude Code threatening legacy systems business, with forecasts projecting a 1.5% segment revenue decline for 2026.
IBM's P/E ratio stands at 18.16, down 0.98 points over the past month. EV/EBITDA sits at 12.79, down 1.23 points over 30 days. The stock ranks in the 81st percentile on EPS surprise and 98th percentile on analyst recommendation differential. EPS momentum ranks are mixed: 28th percentile over 30 days, 48th percentile over 90 days. The dividend score ranks in the 88th percentile.
Insiders sold a net $4.96 million over the past 90 days. The bulk came from CEO Arvind Krishna's February sales totaling $1.51 million. CFO James Kavanaugh sold $804,000 worth. Vanguard added 1.44 million shares in Q1 to hold 10.4%. BlackRock added 959,000 shares, now holding 8.3%. State Street increased its stake by 518,000 shares. T. Rowe Price significantly increased its position by 2.55 million shares in Q1.
The stock has dropped 8.5% over the past week and 3.6% over the past month. IBM has reported earnings four times in the past year, with the most recent announcement on April 22.
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