HPE
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company
HPE has a slight edge over IBM overall, supported by stronger modeled upside and stronger fundamentals.
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation
IBM has slightly lower modeled downside risk, despite its lower overall score.
HPE Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Stable |
HPE's revenue, profitability and cash flow are currently healthy, and its balance sheet is stable.
IBM Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Under pressure |
IBM's profitability and cash flow are currently strong, and its revenue is stable, but its balance sheet is under pressure.
HPE PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 6.4x | $12.41 | -75% |
| Forward | 11x | $50.16 | — |
| Fair | 16x | $30.89 | -38% |
| Expensive | 26x | $49.82 | -0.7% |
| Current | 26x | $50.16 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
HPE's PE is in its expensive range at 26x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 11x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
IBM PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 17x | $194 | -21% |
| Forward | 19x | $245 | — |
| Current | 21x | $245 | — |
| Fair | 23x | $274 | +12% |
| Expensive | 46x | $538 | +120% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
IBM has the edge over HPE in the historical PE scenario, which offers more potential upside but is not a forecast.
HPE Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Low |
HPE has the edge over IBM on the outlook, with more favorable revenue expectations.
IBM Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Improving | |
| Growth | |
| Stable | |
| Improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect IBM's earnings to grow and its profitability to improve, with its revenue holding steady.
HPE Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $4.68 | +141% |
| Q3 2026 | $1.94 | +128% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.09 | +6.9% |
| Q1 2026 | -$0.17 | -108% |
| Q4 2025 | -$0.04 | -102% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.85 | -39% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.02 | -26% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.08 | +43% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.93 | +25% |
HPE's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $1.94 over the past year, against $2.82 in mid-2022.
IBM Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $13.06 | +11% |
| Q3 2026 | $11.75 | +40% |
| Q2 2026 | $11.29 | +83% |
| Q1 2026 | $11.33 | +94% |
| Q4 2025 | $11.17 | +74% |
| Q3 2025 | $8.38 | +22% |
| Q2 2025 | $6.18 | -32% |
| Q1 2025 | $5.83 | -34% |
| Q4 2024 | $6.43 | -21% |
IBM has the edge over HPE on earnings, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
HPE Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $12.2B | +34% |
| Q2 2026 | $10.7B | +40% |
| Q1 2026 | $9.3B | +18% |
| Q4 2025 | $9.7B | +14% |
| Q3 2025 | $9.1B | +18% |
| Q2 2025 | $7.6B | +5.9% |
| Q1 2025 | $7.9B | +16% |
| Q4 2024 | $8.5B | +15% |
HPE has the edge over IBM on sales, with stronger typical year-over-year growth.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 11% | +8.7 points |
| Q2 2026 | 7% | +22 points |
| Q1 2026 | 5% | -0.5 points |
| Q4 2025 | -0.1% | -8.3 points |
| Q3 2025 | 2.7% | -4.4 points |
| Q2 2025 | -15% | -20 points |
| Q1 2025 | 5.5% | -2.3 points |
| Q4 2024 | 8.2% | +1.3 points |
HPE's operating margin was 11% last quarter, up 8.7 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the top of its range since 2019.
IBM Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $17.1B | +4.7% |
| Q2 2026 | $17.2B | +1.1% |
| Q1 2026 | $15.9B | +9.5% |
| Q4 2025 | $19.7B | +12% |
| Q3 2025 | $16.3B | +9.1% |
| Q2 2025 | $17B | +7.7% |
| Q1 2025 | $14.5B | +0.5% |
| Q4 2024 | $17.6B | +1% |
IBM's revenue has grown year over year for 13 quarters in a row: $17.1B last quarter, up 4.7% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 15% | -0.3 points |
| Q2 2026 | 14% | -0.9 points |
| Q1 2026 | 8.7% | +0.8 points |
| Q4 2025 | 21% | +2.2 points |
| Q3 2025 | 15% | +20 points |
| Q2 2025 | 15% | +1.2 points |
| Q1 2025 | 8% | +0.5 points |
| Q4 2024 | 19% | -2.8 points |
IBM has the edge over HPE on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
HPE Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $896M | +23% |
| Q2 2026 | $827M | +$1.8B |
| Q1 2026 | $609M | +$1.5B |
| Q4 2025 | $1.8B | +28% |
| Q3 2025 | $729M | +19% |
| Q2 2025 | -$1B | -289% |
| Q1 2025 | -$918M | -$326M |
| Q4 2024 | $1.4B | -34% |
HPE generated $4.2B in free cash flow over the past year, more than ten times what it generated the year before.
IBM Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $3.7B | +31% |
| Q2 2026 | $2.4B | +59% |
| Q1 2026 | $4.9B | +20% |
| Q4 2025 | $3.7B | -9.2% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.8B | +8.9% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.5B | -19% |
| Q1 2025 | $4.1B | +5% |
| Q4 2024 | $4B | -3.3% |
IBM's free cash flow has been positive every quarter for seven years: $14.7B over the past year, up 18% from the year before.
HPE Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +1.2% | +17M shares |
| 1 year | +2% | +28M shares |
| 3 years | +10% | +133M shares |
| 5 years | +8.3% | +111M shares |
| Available history | +6.1% | +83M shares |
HPE has 1.4B diluted shares, up 2% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $135M |
| Q2 2026 | $154M |
| Q1 2026 | $158M |
| Q4 2025 | $100M |
| Q3 2025 | — |
| Q2 2025 | $50M |
| Q1 2025 | $52M |
| Q4 2024 | $50M |
HPE spent $547M buying back its own shares over the past year, about four times what it spent the year before.
IBM Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 0% | +260K shares |
| 1 year | +0.5% | +4.6M shares |
| 3 years | +3.2% | +29.9M shares |
| 5 years | +5.3% | +47.6M shares |
| Available history | +2.1% | +19.6M shares |
IBM has the edge over HPE on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q4 2019 | — |
HPE Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 2.3x | Moderate |
| Q2 2026 | 3.4x | Elevated |
| Q1 2026 | 6.4x | High |
| Q4 2025 | 7.2x | High |
| Q3 2025 | 6.9x | High |
| Q2 2025 | 2.0x | Healthy |
| Q1 2025 | 1.0x | Very low |
| Q4 2024 | 0.7x | Very low |
HPE has the edge over IBM on leverage, with a lower net debt burden relative to earnings.
IBM Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 3.9x | Elevated |
| Q2 2026 | 3.9x | Elevated |
| Q1 2026 | 4.0x | High |
| Q4 2025 | 3.5x | Elevated |
| Q3 2025 | 4.2x | High |
| Q2 2025 | 5.5x | High |
| Q1 2025 | 5.6x | High |
| Q4 2024 | 4.4x | High |
IBM's net debt is about 3.9 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), down from 4.2 years a year ago.
HPE Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 50.0 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 22.0 | Neutral |
HPE's weekly RSI is 50 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 22 (neutral).
IBM Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 50.1 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 74.8 | Neutral |
IBM's weekly RSI is 50 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 75 (neutral).
HPE PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | HPE | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 26x | 28x | 7.2% below |
| PE % | 83 | 35 | 48 pts above |
HPE is trading at 26x earnings, in line with the Technology sector's median of 28x.
IBM PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | IBM | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 21x | 28x | 25% below |
| PE % | 31 | 35 | 4 pts below |
IBM has the edge over HPE on valuation relative to its sector.
HPE Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $58.5 | 14% below |
| 20 week MA | $54.6 | 8.1% below |
| 50 week MA | $38.8 | 29% above |
| 100 week MA | $29.6 | 70% above |
| 200 week MA | $23.5 | 114% above |
HPE has pulled back, but its long-term trend is still up: it's below its 8- and 20-week averages, but 114% above its 200-week average.
IBM Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $238.6 | 2.6% above |
| 20 week MA | $239.3 | 2.2% above |
| 50 week MA | $256.6 | 4.6% below |
| 100 week MA | $258.5 | 5.3% below |
| 200 week MA | $212.3 | 15% above |
IBM's trend is mixed: it's above three of its five weekly moving averages, and 15% above its 200-week average.
HPE Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $15.9 | $11.8 | -26% |
| 2021 | $11.8 | $15.8 | +34% |
| 2022 | $15.8 | $15.8 | -0.1% |
| 2023 | $15.8 | $17.0 | +7.8% |
| 2024 | $17.0 | $21.7 | +28% |
| 2025 | $21.7 | $24.5 | +13% |
| 2026 YTD | $24.5 | $50.2 | +105% |
HPE has the edge over IBM on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.
IBM Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $129.3 | $119.2 | -7.8% |
| 2021 | $119.2 | $130.6 | +9.6% |
| 2022 | $130.6 | $141.7 | +8.4% |
| 2023 | $141.7 | $163.6 | +15% |
| 2024 | $163.6 | $222.8 | +36% |
| 2025 | $222.8 | $305.1 | +37% |
| 2026 YTD | $305.1 | $244.7 | -20% |
IBM has finished higher in five of the last six years. It's down 20% so far in 2026.