• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechIBM

Despite IBM’s wild ride on the stock market, Warren Buffett remains optimistic

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 10, 2015, 3:18 PM ET
The logo of IBM is seen at their booth p
The logo of IBM is seen at their booth prior to the opening of the CeBIT IT fair on March 5, 2012 in Hanover, central Germany.Photograph by Odd Andersen — AFP/Getty Images

IBM’s stock has taken a wild ride over the past few weeks ever since the legacy giant reported its thirteenth straight decline in quarterly revenue, but that doesn’t seem to bother legendary CEO and investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett spoke to CNBC on Monday to talk about IBM (IBM) among other things, and when asked about IBM’s shaky stock performance, he casually responded, “I feel fine.”

In late July after IBM reported its weak earnings, the company’s stock dropped nearly 6% to $163.07, down from the $173.27 the day before. According to CNBC, Buffet lost roughly $700 million from the stock drop with Berkshire Hathaway owning about 79.57 million shares of IBM.

As of this Monday, the company’s stock is currently trading at $157.31.

While some investors may seem a bit worried about IBM’s declining stock price as the company tries to invest heavily into cloud computing and data analytic technology to eventually boost profits and make up for declining personal computer sales, Buffett is taking a more optimistic look.

“I love it when [a company’s stock] goes down,” Buffett said, hinting that he might be buying more IBM stock in the next few days. “It means if I want to buy more stock, and you can look at our 13F in a few days, it means I get to buy it cheaper.”

Buffett explained that he’s “not a seller of stock” and that he isn’t looking to make a quick buck off a fast-rising stock price once he makes a purchase. Instead, he’s looking at the longer term, like five to ten years down the road, for the price to go up.

 

That’s the type of optimism that IBM seems to be banking on as it undergoes a reinvention that sees heavy investing in areas like cloud computing, big data, and security. IBM CFO Martin Schroeter told investors in July that the company hopes that those areas of investment will account for 40% of company sales by 2018 and bring in $40 billion in revenue.

While the projections are hopeful, analysts have expressed concern that IBM’s investments are not paying off fast enough for them to be satisfied and the company keeps reporting quarterly revenue declines.

Buffett is known to buck conventional wisdom as Berkshire’s latest $37.2 billion acquisition of Precision Castparts, announced on Monday, demonstrates. Industrial goods manufactuer Precision Castparts saw its stock tank this year because of low oil prices, Fortune’s Geoff Colvin reported. But where investors saw trouble, “Buffett saw a strong long-term business at a bargain price,” Colvin wrote.

Time will tell if Buffet’s investment in IBM will pay off. He’s at least willing to wait.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

For more on IBM, check out the following video:

[fortune-brightcove videoid=4346535060001]

 

 

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

Latest in Tech

A group of three robots waiving hello to the audience from a stage.
AIEye on AI
Google researchers unlock some truths about getting AI agents to actually work
By Jeremy KahnDecember 16, 2025
9 hours ago
AIthe future of work
IBM, AWS veteran says 90% of your employees are stuck in first gear with AI, just asking it to ‘write their mean email in a slightly more polite way’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
9 hours ago
Photo of Elon Musk
Startups & VentureSpaceX
A SpaceX IPO could be the largest public offering of all time—and Elon Musk’s biggest headache
By Jessica MathewsDecember 16, 2025
11 hours ago
AIOpenAI
OpenAI releases new image model as it races to outpace Google’s Nano Banana amid company code red
By Sharon GoldmanDecember 16, 2025
11 hours ago
Arnab
AIBrainstorm AI
Accenture exec gets real on transformation: ‘the data and AI strategy is not a separate strategy, it is the business strategy’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 16, 2025
11 hours ago
Matt Garman speaks on stage in front of a screen showing colorful concentric circles on a black background.
Future of WorkAmazon
AWS CEO says replacing young employees with AI is ‘one of the dumbest ideas’—and bad for business: ‘At some point the whole thing explodes on itself’
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 16, 2025
12 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
Meetings are not work, says Southwest Airlines CEO—and he’s taking action, by blocking his calendar every afternoon from Wednesday to Friday 
By Preston ForeDecember 15, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
'I had to take 60 meetings': Jeff Bezos says 'the hardest thing I've ever done' was raising the first million dollars of seed capital for Amazon
By Dave SmithDecember 15, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
America's $38 trillion national debt 'exacerbates generational imbalances' with Gen Z and millennials paying the price, warns think tank
By Eleanor PringleDecember 16, 2025
18 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
The job market is so bad, people in their 40s are resorting to going back to school instead of looking for work
By Sydney LakeDecember 16, 2025
21 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Innovation
An MIT roboticist who cofounded bankrupt Roomba maker iRobot says Elon Musk's vision of humanoid robot assistants is 'pure fantasy thinking'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 16, 2025
15 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Bad luck, six-figure earners: Elon Musk warns that money will 'disappear' in the future as AI makes work (and salaries) irrelevant
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 15, 2025
2 days ago

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.