diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
index a43c68051078fb2c0add4683fba0e980ea998049..af0d65b414162cbde11fe3f17de72a3aee0feb79 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-stat.c
@@ -254,8 +254,13 @@ static double avg_stats(struct stats *stats)
  */
 static double stddev_stats(struct stats *stats)
 {
-	double variance = stats->M2 / (stats->n - 1);
-	double variance_mean = variance / stats->n;
+	double variance, variance_mean;
+
+	if (!stats->n)
+		return 0.0;
+
+	variance = stats->M2 / (stats->n - 1);
+	variance_mean = variance / stats->n;
 
 	return sqrt(variance_mean);
 }