International Business Machines Corporation

The Beneish M-Score for 2024 is -2.795, which is below the -1.78 threshold and therefore not in the elevated manipulation-risk zone. The Beneish model combines several ratios from the financial statements to screen for patterns associated with earnings manipulation. A result below -1.78 means the screen did not flag the company, but it is a screening tool and not proof either way. The operating cash flow to net income ratio of 2.23 means 2024 operating cash flow was 2.23 times reported net income, which is consistent with earnings being backed by cash, although this ratio can be distorted by large noncash charges. The Piotroski F-Score, Altman Z″-Score, and Fog Index are not on file, so no values are given for them. Balance sheet movement is mixed: total assets rose from $135.24 billion to $137.18 billion, liabilities fell from $112.63 billion to $109.78 billion, and equity rose from $22.53 billion to $27.31 billion. The 10-K's Item 9A states that disclosure controls were effective and that no material change occurred in internal control over financial reporting. Readers may want to look at the 2025 Annual Report's cash flow statement and notes, since 2025 financial figures are not in this data set. The equity compensation table lists 32,163,174 securities to be issued on exercise of outstanding awards, with a weighted-average exercise price of $168.45, which is a useful dilution item to track alongside the earnings trend.

Catalyst.The MD&A excerpt on file is mostly incorporated by reference to IBM's 2025 Annual Report, so its own text does not spell out the business drivers. The most recent annual figures in this data are for 2024: revenues of $62.75 billion, up 1.4% from $61.86 billion in 2023. The filing text does name one recent event, the acquisition of HashiCorp, Inc. on February 27, 2025, and a separate HashiCorp Long-Term Performance Plan was set up to fund awards for employees who were not IBM employees before the deal closed. The company also assumed pre-acquisition awards from 18 acquisition transactions. Operating cash flow was $13.45 billion in 2024, compared with $13.93 billion in 2023.

Hidden risk.The 2024 revenue gain did not carry through to profit. Net income fell to $6.02 billion from $7.5 billion in 2023, a decline of 19.7%, while operating cash flow slipped to $13.45 billion from $13.93 billion. Long-term debt of $49.88 billion remains large relative to equity of $27.31 billion, a ratio of about 1.8 times. Revenue is also well below the $79.59 billion reported for 2018, a decline of about 21.2%. No risk-factor text is on file, so the risks the company itself lists cannot be checked against this data.