IBM Common StockIBMCOMMENTJan 07, 2013Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jul 08, 2026. Market Open.
Growing from multiple angles, yet valuation still reasonable. Stable and embedded business complemented by new growth drivers. Consulting business helps companies implement AI, and that's where the real spending is. Strong in hybrid cloud, managing data across environments. Quantum computing already being used with potential for energy, healthcare, manufacturing.
Drop in February due to sector rotation and profit taking. Trades ~19x PE, attractive. Sees 30% upside from here to ~$317. Yield is 2.85%.
Hold on to it. At 4-5% growth, in the ballpark of the top players. He doesn't know its exposure to robotics. Street's pretty positive on it, about 20% upside. At 20x PE, not an aggressive valuation. Margins expected to stay healthy -- 60% gross margins, net income margins of close to 20%.
(Analysts’ price target is $314.00)Has tripled since late 2022, and up 40% the past 12 months. They have terrific AI, cloud and consulting businesses. Also have quantum computing. Sales are up under a fine CEO. The rallied hard last October, but has pulled back. Its chart has double-bottomed and is rebounding like crazy. It's broken out of its 50-day moving average this week. Resistance is at $315, then the next at $335-345. There's more upside with the next leg higher coming. Momentum (MACD indicator) just made a bullish crossover, a positive signal. The On Balance Volume too. The RSI looks good, and can go higher. He liked their last quarter.
It has had quite a run with all the AI buzz. With it you have the same trade as you have with NVIDIA. It is a good business and will capture a solid portion of the software spend on AI. Ultimately though, how far away from commercialization is AI. The easy money has been made and IBM is over-valued at these levels.
Profit margins on companies in the S&P 500 are very, very high relative to history. If you look at where the earnings have been coming from in general for most companies it has not been coming from revenue growth, it has been coming from cost-cutting. Feels the reason this one has traded well over the last few years is that it has very good recurring revenues and has a big global footprint. Technically it has been consolidating over the last couple of months. He would prefer something that has revenue growth such as Google (GOOG-Q) that has both revenue and earnings growth..