diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index 16af2d82e85810f4e8d3dec2ff15016ab8d31b30..e5f6ece65a1386f51b21f8b537a43fc9833275ea 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -338,14 +338,24 @@ static void nsec_printout(int counter, double avg)
 
 static void abs_printout(int counter, double avg)
 {
+	double total, ratio = 0.0;
+
 	fprintf(stderr, " %14.0f  %-24s", avg, event_name(counter));
 
 	if (MATCH_EVENT(HARDWARE, HW_INSTRUCTIONS, counter)) {
-		fprintf(stderr, " # %10.3f IPC  ",
-				avg / avg_stats(&runtime_cycles_stats));
+		total = avg_stats(&runtime_cycles_stats);
+
+		if (total)
+			ratio = avg / total;
+
+		fprintf(stderr, " # %10.3f IPC  ", ratio);
 	} else {
-		fprintf(stderr, " # %10.3f M/sec",
-				1000.0 * avg / avg_stats(&runtime_nsecs_stats));
+		total = avg_stats(&runtime_nsecs_stats);
+
+		if (total)
+			ratio = 1000.0 * avg / total;
+
+		fprintf(stderr, " # %10.3f M/sec", ratio);
 	}
 }