DELL vs IBM
Dell Technologies Inc. and International Business Machines Corp., side by side — 10 fiscal years reported in USD, drawn from SEC filings.
Most recent reported year
| Metric | DELL | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $113.5B | $67.5B |
| Net income | $5.9B | $10.6B |
| Gross margin | 20.0% | 58.2% |
| Net margin | 5.2% | 15.7% |
| Return on equity | · | 35.3% |
| Diluted EPS | $8.68 | $11.17 |
| Dividend / share | $2.10 | $6.71 |
| Payout ratio | 24.6% | 59.0% |
| Free cash flow | $8.6B | $12.1B |
| Equity | $-2.5B | $32.6B |
| Net debt / equity | · | 1.46× |
| Current ratio | 0.91× | 0.96× |
| Revenue CAGR 5y | 5.5% | 4.1% |
| Profit CAGR 5y | 12.8% | 13.6% |
DELL bills 1.7× the revenue of IBM, and IBM keeps more of each dollar of revenue as profit (15.7% against 5.2%).
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 | DELL | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $113.5B | $67.5B |
| FY2024 | $95.6B | $62.8B |
| FY2023 | $88.4B | $61.9B |
| FY2022 | $102.3B | $60.5B |
| FY2021 | $101.2B | $57.4B |
| FY2020 | $86.7B | $55.2B |
| FY2019 | $84.8B | $57.7B |
| FY2018 | $90.6B | $79.6B |
| FY2017 | $79.0B | $79.1B |
| FY2016 | $61.6B | $79.9B |
Bottom line
| Fiscal year | DELL | IBM |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $5.9B | $10.6B |
| FY2024 | $4.6B | $6.0B |
| FY2023 | $3.4B | $7.5B |
| FY2022 | $2.4B | $1.6B |
| FY2021 | $5.6B | $5.7B |
| FY2020 | $3.2B | $5.6B |
| FY2019 | $4.6B | $9.4B |
| FY2018 | $-2.3B | $8.7B |
| FY2017 | $-2.8B | $5.8B |
| FY2016 | $-1.7B | $11.9B |
12 fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | +$46,003,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2024 | +$32,814,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2023 | +$26,565,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2022 | +$41,771,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2021 | +$43,847,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2020 | +$31,491,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2019 | +$27,101,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2018 | +$11,030,000,000 | DELL |
| FY2017 | −$99,000,000 | IBM |
| FY2016 | −$18,277,000,000 | IBM |
| FY2015 | −$30,830,000,000 | IBM |
| FY2014 | −$38,651,000,000 | IBM |
The higher-revenue side has changed between DELL and IBM over this period. The gap has widened since the earliest year compared.
12 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
12 fiscal years
| Fiscal year | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | −10.5 pp | IBM |
| FY2024 | −4.8 pp | IBM |
| FY2023 | −8.3 pp | IBM |
| FY2022 | −0.3 pp | IBM |
| FY2021 | −4.4 pp | IBM |
| FY2020 | −6.1 pp | IBM |
| FY2019 | −9.8 pp | IBM |
| FY2018 | −13.4 pp | IBM |
| FY2017 | −11.0 pp | IBM |
| FY2016 | −17.6 pp | IBM |
| FY2015 | −18.3 pp | IBM |
| FY2014 | −15.2 pp | IBM |
IBM has kept the higher net margin in every one of these 12 fiscal years.
12 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 DELL's over the 12 comparable fiscal years — 3.9 percentage points of standard deviation against 3.7.
12 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
IBM led in net margin in every one of the 12 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
12 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Standard deviation, each side
IBM's return on equity has been more volatile than DELL's over the 4 comparable fiscal years — 24.5 percentage points of standard deviation against 11.6.
4 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
IBM led in return on equity in every one of the 4 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
4 of 19 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.