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What? Gross margin of 50% is humongous. Google's gross margin is in the same ballpark, and Apple's is less than that.

IBM's 2014 revenue was $93Bn. IBM's 2014 costs was $46Bn. Therefore their gross profit was $46Bn (after rounding).

This results in a gross margin of 46/93 = 51%.

If I looked through the NYSE I'd find no shortage of companies with a gross margin around 50%.

A gross margin figure of 50% alone is really nothing to be mind-blown about.

(To be clear, I'm most certainly not defending this company. Just saying that it would be wrong to be horrified with a 50% gross margin.)