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IBM slides despite earnings beat

Here’s how Big Blue did.

10/22/25 4:44PM

Despite reporting better-than-expected Q3 sales and profits, IBM fell in after-hours trading Wednesday. Sales at its important software segment matched Wall Street’s expectations.

Here are IBM’s numbers:

Q3 revenue of $16.33 billion vs. the $16.09 billion FactSet consensus estimate.
Adjusted earnings per share of $2.65 vs. the $2.45 consensus expectation.
Sales of $7.21 billion at its key, high-margin software segment vs. a $7.21 billion consensus of six analyst estimates.
Sales of $3.56 billion at its infrastructure unit, which houses its growing AI mainframe business, vs. a $3.46 billion consensus of six analyst estimates.

CEO Arvind Krishna noted that the company’s “AI book of business now stands at more than $9.5 billion," compared with the previous statement in July when he said IBM’s “generative AI book of business continues to accelerate and now stands at more than $7.5 billion.”

IBM shares have had a volatile 2025, but were up roughly 31% through the end of trading on Wednesday compared to a gain of about 18% for the Nasdaq Composite.

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Low-cost airlines plunge on report Trump administration is close to $500 million rescue deal for Spirit

Low-budget US airlines are sinking on Wednesday morning following a Wall Street Journal report that the Trump administration is close to making a rescue deal for Spirit Airlines, which is said to be nearing liquidation amid high fuel costs.

Shares of Frontier, Allegiant, JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines all dropped notably.

Per the WSJ, the US government could soon loan Spirit up to $500 million in return for warrants to take a sizable stake in the airline, which has filed for bankruptcy twice since late 2024. Those warrants could give the US government the ability to purchase as much as 90% ownership of Spirit, Bloomberg reports. The carrier has made efforts to emerge from its latest bankruptcy, filed in August, but fuel costs amid the war in Iran have upset the math.

On Tuesday, President Trump told CNBC he would “love somebody to buy Spirit.”

Exclusive | Trump Administration Nearing Rescue Deal for Spirit Airlines

On Tuesday, President Trump told CNBC he would “love somebody to buy Spirit.”

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Boeing reports better-than-expected Q1 earnings, revenue

Plane maker Boeing reported its first-quarter earnings before the market opened on Wednesday. Its shares climbed more than 3% in premarket trading.

For Q1, Boeing reported:

An adjusted loss of $0.20 per share, compared to the loss of $0.68 per share expected by Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet.
Revenue of $22.22 billion, compared to estimates of $21.85 billion.

Boeing reported -$1.45 billion in free cash flow in Q1, compared to the -$2.34 billion expected by Wall Street. Prior to Wednesday, Boeing had reported two consecutive quarters of positive FCF following six straight quarters of negative results. The company is still guiding for full-year FCF of between $1 billion and $3 billion.

Earlier this month, Boeing announced it had delivered 143 commercial jets in Q1, up 10% from the same period last year and ahead of rival Airbus, which delivered 114. This was Boeing’s first time outdelivering Airbus since 2018.

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GE Vernova, top AI energy play, rises after Q1 report

GE Vernova, a maker of power plant equipment that’s seen orders tied to data centers surge, rose early Wednesday after posting strong Q1 results and lifting full-year sales guidance. The GE spin-off reported:

Adjusted EBITDA of $896 million vs. the $772 million estimate from analysts polled by FactSet.
Total revenue of $9.34 billion vs. the $9.25 billion consensus expectation from analysts polled by FactSet.
Full-year 2026 sales guidance that was lifted to between $44.5 billion and $45.5 billion from prior guidance of between $44 billion and $45 billion, vs. the consensus estimate of $44.64 billion.

“In the quarter, our electrification segment booked $2.4 billion in equipment orders to support data centers, more than all of last year,” said CEO Scott Strazik.

GE Vernova is up some 600% over the last two years through Tuesday’s close, but the majority of those gains were booked by August 2025. After being largely range-bound for months, the stock busted out following the company’s last earnings report, lifting the shares up nearly 50% in 2026.