IBM stock experienced significant volatility recently. On February 23, 2026, IBM shares fell 13.2% to $223.35 after Anthropic announced its Claude Code tool could automate COBOL modernization, a key IBM mainframe business. This represented the worst single-day drop in over 25 years and wiped approximately $40 billion from IBM's market value. An estimated 95% of U.S. ATM transactions use COBOL. Anthropic stated Claude Code could handle exploration and analysis work that previously required months of human analyst effort, potentially compressing multi-year migration projects into quarters. However, more recently IBM shares rose 4.5%, with some sources noting the stock had fallen 4% in morning trading following Trump administration tariff announcements. Several brokerages raised IBM price targets, and Payden & Rygel increased its IBM position by 24.2%. IBM announced plans to triple entry-level hiring in the U.S. in 2026 and introduced new AI-driven storage offerings.
Read full analysisIBM stock experienced significant volatility recently. On February 23, 2026, IBM shares fell 13.2% to $223.35 after Anthropic announced its Claude Code tool could automate COBOL modernization, a key IBM mainframe business. This represented the worst single-day drop in over 25 years and wiped approximately $40 billion from IBM's market value. An estimated 95% of U.S. ATM transactions use COBOL. Anthropic stated Claude Code could handle exploration and analysis work that previously required months of human analyst effort, potentially compressing multi-year migration projects into quarters. However, more recently IBM shares rose 4.5%, with some sources noting the stock had fallen 4% in morning trading following Trump administration tariff announcements. Several brokerages raised IBM price targets, and Payden & Rygel increased its IBM position by 24.2%. IBM announced plans to triple entry-level hiring in the U.S. in 2026 and introduced new AI-driven storage offerings.
IBM is a $200 billion-plus technology conglomerate offering enterprise software, consulting, hybrid cloud infrastructure (Red Hat), and AI services through its watsonx platform. A significant portion of its consulting and services revenue derives from maintaining and modernizing legacy COBOL systems that power critical financial, government, and airline infrastructure — an estimated 95% of U.S. ATM transactions run on COBOL. The stock is now attempting to stabilize after losing more than 20% since early February from a cascade of negative catalysts including the Kyndryl accounting crisis, a Chanos short critique, and Anthropic's COBOL automation announcement.