AAPL vs IBM
Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp., side by side — 10 fiscal years reported in USD, drawn from SEC filings.
Most recent reported year
| Metric | AAPL | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $416.2B | $67.5B |
| Net income | $112.0B | $10.6B |
| Gross margin | 46.9% | 58.2% |
| Net margin | 26.9% | 15.7% |
| Return on equity | 171.4% | 35.3% |
| Diluted EPS | $7.46 | $11.17 |
| Dividend / share | $1.02 | $6.71 |
| Payout ratio | 13.8% | 59.0% |
| Free cash flow | $98.8B | $12.1B |
| Equity | $73.7B | $32.6B |
| Net debt / equity | 0.74× | 1.46× |
| Current ratio | 0.89× | 0.96× |
| Revenue CAGR 5y | 8.7% | 4.1% |
| Profit CAGR 5y | 14.3% | 13.6% |
AAPL bills 6.2× the revenue of IBM, and keeps more of each dollar of revenue as profit (26.9% against 15.7%).
The stronger figure of the pair is set in bold. That is arithmetic, not a recommendation — this page does not pick a winner. "·" marks a figure not available in our data.
10 years side by side
| Fiscal year | AAPL | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $416.2B | $67.5B |
| FY2024 | $391.0B | $62.8B |
| FY2023 | $383.3B | $61.9B |
| FY2022 | $394.3B | $60.5B |
| FY2021 | $365.8B | $57.4B |
| FY2020 | $274.5B | $55.2B |
| FY2019 | $260.2B | $57.7B |
| FY2018 | $265.6B | $79.6B |
| FY2017 | $229.2B | $79.1B |
| FY2016 | $215.6B | $79.9B |
Bottom line
| Fiscal year | AAPL | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $112.0B | $10.6B |
| FY2024 | $93.7B | $6.0B |
| FY2023 | $97.0B | $7.5B |
| FY2022 | $99.8B | $1.6B |
| FY2021 | $94.7B | $5.7B |
| FY2020 | $57.4B | $5.6B |
| FY2019 | $55.3B | $9.4B |
| FY2018 | $59.5B | $8.7B |
| FY2017 | $48.4B | $5.8B |
| FY2016 | $45.7B | $11.9B |
19 fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | +$348,626,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2024 | +$328,282,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2023 | +$321,425,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2022 | +$333,798,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2021 | +$308,467,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2020 | +$219,336,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2019 | +$202,460,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2018 | +$186,004,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2017 | +$150,095,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2016 | +$135,720,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2015 | +$151,974,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2014 | +$90,002,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2013 | +$72,543,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2012 | +$53,634,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2011 | +$1,333,000,000 | AAPL |
| FY2010 | −$34,645,000,000 | IBM |
| FY2009 | −$52,853,000,000 | IBM |
| FY2008 | −$66,139,000,000 | IBM |
| FY2007 | −$74,208,000,000 | IBM |
The higher-revenue side has changed between AAPL and IBM over this period. The gap has widened since the earliest year compared.
19 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
19 fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | +11.2 pp | AAPL |
| FY2024 | +14.4 pp | AAPL |
| FY2023 | +13.2 pp | AAPL |
| FY2022 | +22.6 pp | AAPL |
| FY2021 | +15.9 pp | AAPL |
| FY2020 | +10.8 pp | AAPL |
| FY2019 | +4.9 pp | AAPL |
| FY2018 | +11.4 pp | AAPL |
| FY2017 | +13.8 pp | AAPL |
| FY2016 | +6.3 pp | AAPL |
| FY2015 | +6.7 pp | AAPL |
| FY2014 | +8.7 pp | AAPL |
| FY2013 | +4.9 pp | AAPL |
| FY2012 | +10.5 pp | AAPL |
| FY2011 | +9.1 pp | AAPL |
| FY2010 | +6.6 pp | AAPL |
| FY2009 | +5.2 pp | AAPL |
| FY2008 | +4.4 pp | AAPL |
| FY2007 | +3.7 pp | AAPL |
AAPL has kept the higher net margin in every one of these 19 fiscal years.
19 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Standard deviation, each side
IBM's net margin has been more volatile than AAPL's over the 19 comparable fiscal years — 3.5 percentage points of standard deviation against 3.2.
19 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
AAPL led in net margin in every one of the 19 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
19 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Standard deviation, each side
AAPL's return on equity has been more volatile than IBM's over the 19 comparable fiscal years — 55.8 percentage points of standard deviation against 24.3.
19 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
The lead in return on equity changed hands between AAPL and IBM over these 19 fiscal years — AAPL led in 8 and IBM in 11.
19 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.