IBM uses its profit to buy new companies for their profits, giving the illusion of growing profits. Of course this is how IBM ends up over 60 billion dollars in DEBT, but nobody pays attention to that, watch the profits that IBM is BUYING, Wall Street.
IBM's Share Buyback Strategy and Costs
https://www.discerningreaders.com/ibm-twenty-first-century-share-buybacks.html
"This is more akin to dollar cost averaging a technique recommended for individuals. With this strategy, individuals buy a fixed dollar amount of stock on a regular schedule over a long period of time, regardless of the share price. This is a tactic to maximize an individuals long-term wealth in the stock market by investing in stocks through good times and bad; it is not a viable strategy for a corporation such as IBM to invest in stocks to create shareholder wealth when it should be investing in business-first: making people more productive, processes more effective, and products more valuable." https://www.discerningreaders.com/ibm-twenty-first-century-share-buybacks.html
To most people it's called "cooking the books" but not to Alvind or his pet pig from F&O , Kavanaugh.
Seems too much trouble for the IBM board to look at either, but then they're only in this to pay themselves (get rich quick and cash out) while the stock is doing well.