IBM NYSE:IBM remained under pressure after its preliminary second-quarter results triggered a roughly 25% selloff, with investors reassessing the company's position against enterprise technology peers.
IBM blamed the shortfall on slower software spending, delayed large customer deals and weaker demand for mainframes as businesses shifted more of their budgets toward AI infrastructure. CEO Arvind Krishna said the company "did not adapt and move quickly enough," leading to missed deal closures.
IBM sells enterprise software, consulting services, hybrid-cloud solutions and mainframe systems. The company has been investing heavily in AI and quantum computing, but recent results suggest customers are prioritizing AI infrastructure over broader enterprise software spending.
A quantitative comparison showed IBM earned a 3.37 rating, behind Hewlett Packard Enterprise's 4.97 and slightly below Cisco NASDAQ:CSCO and Dell NYSE:DELL at 3.49. Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT scored 3.47, while Salesforce NYSE:CRM stood at 3.39 and Oracle (ORCL) at 3.20.