IBM Common StockIBMCOMMENTJul 27, 2017Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jul 31, 2026. Market Open.
We had these stocks that were growing off of AI, and they've been delivering spectacular growth. But they've also had spectacular increases in share prices, which becomes a potential source of volatility.
The question is whether valuations are too high given projected growth? As we've seen here, some of the price adjustments can be pretty abrupt.
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)
This is in the penalty box. The problem is with having their AI and Watson on one side, and all the old hardware and systems on the other side. You have legacy assets that are not growing, and you have growth coming out of the other. Revenues for the last quarter were down 3% at constant currency. Growth profit margins are down year-over-year. Cloud is going to be a commoditized market, because you have Amazon (AMZN-Q), Salesforce (CRM-N) and Microsoft (MSFT-Q) in that area. It is really going to come down to Watson and how quickly they can write that Artificial Intelligence algorithm scalable to get market share and keep it. It could go sideways for a while and you’ll pick up yield, but hope that new services can grow faster than legacy assets is declining.