When IBM (NYSE:IBM) reported its third-quarter earnings a couple weeks ago, the results were miserable. Since then, the shares are off almost 9%. Other mega techs like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG

) also had similar moves.

Today, though, IBM provided some much-needed support when it announced that it added $5 billion to its stock buyback program. In all, $11.7 billion are available for purchases, which represents about 5% of the outstanding shares.

Plus, IBM tends to follow-through on its buybacks. It purchased roughly $3 billion in stock for the past two quarters.

Still, this does not necessarily mean that the company will use up all the purchasing power. And while the $5 billion buyback plan is encouraging, it is still not enough. In early trading, IBM’s shares are up only about 0.5% to $194.32.

In other words, investors want to see some signs that the company is once again getting traction with revenue growth.

Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook.”  Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.