IBM shares post record 25% drop after preliminary Q2 revenue miss
Stock falls after IBM’s July 14 preliminary update showed $17.2 billion in revenue, weak software and infrastructure trends versus prior expectations, and prompted a Levi & Korsinsky investigation.
IBM shares fell 25.21% to close at $217.05 on July 14, 2026, the company’s biggest one-day decline on record, after a preliminary second-quarter update projected revenue of $17.2 billion, below the $17.9 billion market expectation. Revenue still rose 1% from a year earlier, but infrastructure revenue fell 7%, software rose 5% and consulting was flat, while the Z mainframe business also underperformed IBM’s own forecast. Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said customers tightened budgets late in the quarter and shifted capital spending toward servers, storage and memory amid hardware shortages, delaying some purchases of IBM software and services. Separately, Levi & Korsinsky, LLP said it is investigating potential securities law issues tied to IBM’s prior guidance after the selloff.
- Z mainframe: IBM’s large enterprise computing system used for high-volume transaction processing and other critical workloads.
- infrastructure revenue: Sales generated from a company’s hardware and related infrastructure products.
- COBOL: A long-established programming language still used in many large business and government systems.