International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. The company operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers a hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allows clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate. The Consulting segment focuses on skills integration for strategy, experience, technology, and operations by domain and industry. The Infrastructure segment provides on-premises and cloud based server, and storage solutions, as well as life-cycle services for hybrid cloud infrastructure deployment. The Financing segment offers client and commercial financing, facilitates IBM clients' acquisition of hardware, software, and services. The company has a strategic partnership to various companies including hyperscalers, service providers, global system integrators, and software and hardware vendors that includes Adobe, Amazon Web services, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, Samsung Electronics and SAP, and others. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. International Business Machines Corporation was incorporated in 1911 and is headquartered in Armonk, New York.

IBM выглядит как зрелая, прибыльная, но уже не дешевая история с заметной долговой нагрузкой и слабой ликвидностью. По оценке компания торгуется с низким P/E и P/FCF относительно отрасли, что поддерживает аргумент в пользу качества прибыли и денежного потока, однако P/S и особенно P/B остаются высокими, то есть рынок уже закладывает премию за устойчивость бизнеса. Динамика P/E заметно улучшилась: мультипликатор снизился с очень высоких уровней к текущему значению, что говорит о нормализации оценки на фоне роста прибыли. Маржа выглядит сильной: валовая, операционная и чистая маржа выше медианы отрасли и в целом улучшались по годам, что подтверждает способность IBM удерживать рентабельность. ROE и ROA также находятся выше отраслевых ориентиров и показывают, что капитал и активы используются эффективно. При этом баланс остается уязвимым: debt/equity существенно выше медианы, долг большой, а current ratio и quick ratio ниже 1, что ограничивает финансовую гибкость. Дивидендная доходность есть, но она умеренная и не выглядит главным драйвером переоценки. Выручка и прибыль в абсолюте выглядят стабильными, но без признаков мощного ускорения, поэтому потенциал роста оценки ограничен. Сильная сторона IBM — качество операционной модели и денежного потока; слабая — высокая долговая нагрузка и не самая комфортная ликвидность. В такой конфигурации справедливо сохранять осторожность: фундаментал поддерживает компанию, но не оправдывает агрессивного повышения целевой цены. Для инвестора это скорее история про устойчивость и умеренный апсайд, чем про сильную недооцененность.

International Business Machines Corporation

Сильный индекс, значительно упал. Быки в растерянности.

Strong index, significantly down. The bulls are confused.

Сильный индекс, без изменений. Рынок не поддерживает быков.

Strong index, flat. The market does not support the bulls.

Средний индекс, незначительно вырос. Отток средств из лонгов на высоком уровне.

Medium index, slightly up. Outflow of funds from longs at a high level.

IBM демонстрирует сильную рентабельность и денежный поток, но высокая долговая нагрузка, слабая ликвидность и премиальные P/B и P/S сдерживают оценку.

In early trading on Friday, shares of Sherwin-Williams topped the list of the day's best performing Dow Jones Industrial Average components, trading up 1.8%. Year to date, Sherwin-Williams has lost about 0.5% of its value.
And the worst performing Dow component thus far on the day is Salesforce, trading down 2.3%. Salesforce is lower by about 38.6% looking at the year to date performance.
Two other components making moves today are International Business Machines, trading down 2.2%, and Goldman Sachs Group, trading up 1.7% on the day.
VIDEO: Dow Movers: CRM, SHW
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Dow Movers: CRM, SHW

Key Points
Stock splits have enjoyed a resurgence in recent years.
Historically, stock split stocks tend to beat the broader market.
CrowdStrike has an excellent track record of growth and the backing of Wall Street's collective wisdom.
There's been a resurgence in the popularity of stock splits in recent years, driven by rising corporate profits and surging stock prices. It was common practice in the late 1990s, but fell out of fashion before enjoying a renaissance. This is historically a sign of a company performing at a high level, as evidenced by years, or even decades, of strong operating and financial results, which have driven the stock price out of reach for everyday investors.
Historically, these top-performing stocks continue to outpace their peers. History shows that companies that conduct stock splits generate stock price increases of 25%, on average, in the year following the announcement, compared with average gains of 12% for the S&P 500, according to data compiled by BofA analyst Jared Woodard.
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Let's look at one recent stock split that still has plenty of upside ahead, according to Wall Street.
AI in its DNA
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been all the rage in recent years, but CrowdStrike Holdings (NASDAQ: CRWD) has built a cybersecurity empire that leveraged AI before it was fashionable. The company's Falcon platform offers the most sophisticated threat protection available, infused with its Charlotte AI, which was designed for the world of generative and agentic AI.
The need for its services has never been greater. The global average cost of a data breach last year was $4.44 million, according to a report by IBM, and the threat worsens with every passing year. The abilities of AI to find exploits take that problem to the next level.
CrowdStrike has long been a trailblazer in the cybersecurity industry. It was recognized as a Leader in Gartner's 2026 Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection for the seventh consecutive year. Perhaps as importantly, the company was chosen as a Leader in Gartner's inaugural 2026 Magic Quadrant for Cyberthreat Intelligence Technologies, cited for its "completeness of vision" and "ability to execute."
The company's results are compelling. For its fiscal 2027 first quarter (ended April 30), CrowdStrike reported revenue that climbed 26% year over year to $1.39 billion, driven higher by record annual recurring revenue (ARR) that grew 24% to $5.5 billion. This drove adjusted earnings per share (EPS) up 51% to $1.10.
Wall Street is bullish about CrowdStrike's future. Of the 54 analysts who offered an opinion in June, 78% rate it a buy or strong buy. Furthermore, Wall Street's average price target on the stock is about $712, implying additional upside of 10% compared to Wednesday's closing price.
However, one analyst is much more bullish. Rosenblatt Securities analyst Catharine Trebnick has a price target of $825 -- the highest among her Wall Street peers -- suggesting CrowdStrike stock could climb as much as 27% from its current price (as of market close on Wednesday). The analyst called CrowdStrike's Q1 financial report "outstanding." She goes on to say that the "intersection of frontier AI models and cybersecurity has positioned the Falcon platform as critical AI infrastructure."
Her thinking is on point. When AI start-up Anthropic unveiled its Claude Mythos Preview, the frontier AI model revealed "thousands of high-severity vulnerabilities, including some in every major operating system and web browser" that hackers could use to gain access to critical systems. Anthropic formed a coalition to address these exploits, and CrowdStrike was one of just two cybersecurity companies invited to participate.
CrowdStrike's valuation is enough to make value investors cringe, so it likely won't be a fit for everyone. The stock is currently selling for 111 times forward earnings -- which is pricey to be sure. However, CrowdStrike has soared 362% over the past three years, more than five times the 71% return of the S&P 500, which underlines why it's worthy of a premium valuation.
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Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Danny Vena, CPA has positions in CrowdStrike. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CrowdStrike and International Business Machines. The Motley Fool recommends Gartner. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

1 Stock-Split Stock to Buy Before It Jumps 27% According to 1 Wall Street Analyst

Looking today at week-over-week shares outstanding changes among the universe of ETFs covered at ETF Channel, one standout is the State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (Symbol: SPY) where we have detected an approximate $8 inflow -- that's a 1.0% increase week over week in outstanding units (from 1,,03,7,4,82,,116 to 1,,04,7,9,82,,116). Among the largest underlying components of SPY, in trading today Philip Morris International Inc (Symbol: PM) is up about 0.7%, Texas Instruments Inc. (Symbol: TXN) is up about 3.2%, and International Business Machines Corp (Symbol: IBM) is relatively unchanged. For a complete list of holdings, visit the SPY Holdings page »
The chart below shows the one year price performance of SPY, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, SPY's low point in its 52 week range is $591.89 per share, with $760.40 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $728.61. Comparing the most recent share price to the 200 day moving average can also be a useful technical analysis technique -- learn more about the 200 day moving average ».
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) trade just like stocks, but instead of ''shares'' investors are actually buying and selling ''units''. These ''units'' can be traded back and forth just like stocks, but can also be created or destroyed to accommodate investor demand. Each week we monitor the week-over-week change in shares outstanding data, to keep a lookout for those ETFs experiencing notable inflows (many new units created) or outflows (many old units destroyed). Creation of new units will mean the underlying holdings of the ETF need to be purchased, while destruction of units involves selling underlying holdings, so large flows can also impact the individual components held within ETFs.
Further SPY Research:
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

SPY, PM, TXN, IBM: ETF Inflow Alert

Datadog DDOG stock may trade at a premium valuation that gives some investors pause, but the cloud observability and security platform has built a formidable competitive moat. Its unified architecture consolidates infrastructure monitoring, application performance management, log management, security and AI observability within a single agent-based platform, eliminating the fragmented tooling stacks that continue to burden enterprise engineering teams. That differentiation is translating into performance. In the first quarter of 2026, DDOG generated revenues of $1.01 billion, up 32% year over year, with non-GAAP operating margins holding at 22%, while total ARR surpassed $4 billion for the first time.
DDOG raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $4.30-$4.34 billion, representing 25–27% year-over-year growth, signaling management's confidence in sustained growth momentum.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DDOG's 2026 revenues is pegged at $4.31 billion, indicating 25.71% year-over-year growth. The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $2.39 per share, indicating a 16.59% increase from the previous year.
Datadog, Inc. Price and Consensus
DDOG has delivered impressive returns for shareholders year to date, with shares surging 67.4%, outpacing the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector's return of 15.9% as well as the Zacks Internet Software industry, which has declined 12.5%.
Among peers, Cisco Systems CSCO has advanced 54.3% over the same period, while Dynatrace DT has declined 6.3% and International Business Machines IBM has declined 8%, indicating DDOG's clear outperformance against both direct observability competitors and broader enterprise technology players.
DDOG Outperforms Sector, Industry and Peers
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
DDOG's Consolidation Motion Points to Untapped Growth
DDOG's consolidation motion is converting into high-value enterprise wins, and the trajectory points to an opportunity still in its early stages. Customers are consistently arriving with fragmented stacks spanning legacy vendors, open-source tools and cloud-native point solutions, and consolidating onto DDOG as a single strategic platform. This motion is broadening, with 56% of customers using four or more products and 20% using eight or more, both improving meaningfully year over year. Yet of DDOG's 26 products, only five have crossed $100 million in ARR, leaving 18 in earlier lifecycle stages and representing a substantial runway for in-base expansion not yet fully realized.
Bits Assistant and the bring-your-own-cloud offering, both not yet generally available, are positioned to expand DDOG's reach into large-scale enterprise workloads that would not previously have considered a SaaS-based observability platform, effectively broadening the addressable market rather than simply competing within it. FedRAMP High certification is unlocking a federal agency pipeline where go-to-market investment and channel partnerships are already in place, and the planned UK data center adds a geographic dimension to a public sector expansion story that remains in early innings domestically and internationally.
AI Observability Adoption Still in Early Monetization
DDOG's AI observability positioning is evolving from inference-focused to encompassing the full AI development lifecycle, and the commercial implications of that shift are still being priced in. Over 6,500 customers are sending data through one or more AI integrations, representing 20% of total customers but 80% of ARR, with LLM observability spans nearly tripling quarter over quarter, and MCP server tool calls quadrupling in the same period. This acceleration suggests monetization remains in its early stages relative to the underlying adoption curve.
Hyperscale training workloads are converting into seven-figure and eight-figure annualized deals with AI research divisions of the world's largest technology companies. As training workloads become production-grade infrastructure for a growing number of enterprises, DDOG's GPU monitoring product is positioned to become a category-defining offering for a market still in the early stages of forming. Bits AI SRE Agent and Bits Assistant remain early in their adoption curves, meaning the monetization opportunity from DDOG's agentic product suite is largely ahead rather than behind.
A Premium Worth Paying as Competitive Distance Widens
DDOG trades at a premium, as suggested by its Zacks Value Score of F. On a forward 12-month price-to-sales basis, it trades at 17.3X, a significant premium to the sector median of 6.55X and the industry median of 3.71X.
Peers International Business Machines, Cisco Systems and Dynatrace trade at 3.51X, 6.99X and 4.95X, respectively. DDOG's premium is justified by a superior growth trajectory and a usage-based model that scales naturally with customer AI adoption. Its product pipeline remains largely ahead in its monetization curve. International Business Machines, Cisco Systems and Dynatrace do not offer a comparable combination of growth visibility and platform depth.
DDOG's Premium Valuation
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Investment Outlook
DDOG is benefiting from a platform consolidation motion that is still broadening, an AI observability adoption curve that remains ahead in its monetization cycle and a product pipeline with significant scaling potential yet to be realized. Its usage-based model scales naturally with customer AI adoption, making the premium valuation a reflection of genuine growth visibility rather than speculative excess.
DDOG currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and a Growth Score of A, a favorable combination that offers a strong investment opportunity per the Zacks proprietary methodology. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

3 Reasons to Buy DDOG Stock Despite 17.3X P/S Premium Valuation

Key Points
IBM argues that "data gravity" is pulling AI workloads back to on-premises infrastructure, challenging the cloud-first default.
Big Blue's Power servers and Z mainframes target enterprises that need AI capabilities without moving mission-critical data to another company's cloud platform.
Oracle, CrowdStrike, and Seagate are also leveraging data gravity concepts, suggesting broad industry recognition of the trend.
For years, enterprise IT strategy followed a simple script: Move workloads to the public cloud. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Web Services, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Azure, and Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Cloud built massive businesses on that assumption.
But the AI era is throwing a spanner in the cloud computing works.
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The gravitational pull of stubborn data
"Hybrid cloud and AI are two sides of the same coin," said Dr. Hillery Hunter, CTO and general manager of innovation for IBM (NYSE: IBM) Infrastructure. "Where your data is, is becoming very much a grounding factor, because where your data is, is then where you naturally want to build out your AI."
That makes sense, right? It's the concept of data gravity in action.
Once enterprise data settles somewhere, it tends to stay put. It accumulates. It gets comfortable. And moving it becomes a difficult production. Taking a large company's data out of its natural habitat incurs egress fees, data transfer latency, security reviews, and the need to explain to regulators why sensitive information is taking a field trip, perhaps across international borders.
For some organizations, AI accelerates the move to public cloud; they've already committed to that architecture and will consolidate further. But Hunter sees an equally strong motion in the opposite direction: enterprises with significant on-premises data gravity that need to bring AI capabilities to where the data already lives.
"I see both motions equally developing," Hunter said in a recent interview with The Fool. "People are taking different decisions across that spectrum."
IBM has receipts for the hybrid cloud thesis
Research from the IBM Institute for Business Value supports this split. Nearly three-quarters of executives surveyed are backing away from cloud-first defaults and deeper into their corporation's data centers. And 72% of organizations said that cloud costs in production exceeded expectations by an average of 1.5 times. IBM's hybrid computing model supports both sides of this equation, pairing the centralized IBM Cloud services with mainframes and Power servers in the data center.
IBM isn't the only company leveraging the data gravity idea.
Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) is making a similar bet from a different starting point. The database giant has positioned itself as a "data vault" provider, optimizing for enterprises whose mission-critical data already lives in Oracle systems and databases.
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) argues that its Falcon security system creates useful data gravity wherever it goes. "This integration means data doesn't just accumulate; it's immediately actionable, contributing to threat detection and response," the company stated in a company blog post.
Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) highlights how large data sets tend to attract smaller data collections to the same storage system, simply because it's easier to move the smaller ones. Enterprises should account for the data gravity effect when planning their large-scale storage setups, breaking up huge data buckets before they grow too large to manage.
The investment case for stubborn data
Different tech veterans are reaching the same observation from different angles: Data doesn't like to move, and pretending otherwise gets expensive.
IBM's infrastructure business is built around this premise. The company's Power servers and Z mainframes are designed for enterprises that need AI capabilities without relocating mission-critical data to third-party clouds.
Hunter emphasized that IBM's systems deliver "six nines of resilience" (meaning 99.9999% uptime, or just a few seconds of downtime per year) and twice the power efficiency of competing server architectures.
The hyperscalers aren't going anywhere; Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet have the scale and momentum to keep growing cloud revenues for years. But IBM is betting that "move everything to the cloud" was never the right answer for every workload. The company will help if you insist on cloud computing, but some data is just too heavy to lift.
For IBM investors, the hybrid cloud model is the thesis. If enterprises keep pulling AI-related workloads back from the cloud to their data centers, IBM's infrastructure business has a huge growth opportunity in that shift.
If cloud-first comes back in style over the years, IBM is swimming against the tide.
Place your bets accordingly. I, for one, see the value of local data collections rising as the datasets grow larger.
Should you buy stock in International Business Machines right now?
Before you buy stock in International Business Machines, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and International Business Machines wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $439,038!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,277,804!*
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*Stock Advisor returns as of June 11, 2026.
Anders Bylund has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, and International Business Machines. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, CrowdStrike, International Business Machines, Microsoft, and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

IBM Thinks Your Data Is Too Stubborn to Move (and AI Agrees)

Celestica Inc. CLS and International Business Machines Corporation IBM are two major players in the AI infrastructure arena within the technology sector, with key expertise in their respective domains. Celestica is one of the largest firms in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry, primarily serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud-based and other service providers and business enterprises across several industries. It offers a comprehensive range of manufacturing and supply-chain solutions that support various customer requirements, from low-volume, high-complexity custom products to high-volume commodity products.
IBM offers cloud and data solutions that aid enterprises in digital transformation. In addition to hybrid cloud services, the company provides advanced information technology solutions, computer systems, quantum computing and supercomputing solutions, enterprise software, storage systems and microelectronics.
Let us delve a little deeper into the companies’ competitive dynamics to understand which of the two is relatively better placed in the industry.
The Case for Celestica
With more than two decades of experience in manufacturing, backed by a simplified and optimized global network, Celestica is committed to delivering next-generation, cloud-optimized data storage and industry-leading networking solutions to help customers balance performance, power efficiency and space as technologies evolve. The growing proliferation of AI-based applications and generative AI tools is fueling solid AI investments across the technology ecosystem. This, in turn, is driving demand for Celestica’s enterprise-level data communications and information processing infrastructure products, such as routers, switches, data center interconnects, edge solutions and servers and storage-related products.
Celestica’s focus on product diversification and increasing its presence in high-value markets is positive. Its strong research and development foundations allow it to produce high-volume electronic goods and highly complex technology infrastructure products for a wide range of industries, including communication, healthcare, aerospace and defense, energy, semiconductor and various cloud-based and other service providers. Such a diverse customer base enhances business resilience by reducing dependence on a single industry and minimizing the effects on financial results from an economic downturn in a specific sector.
However, the company remains plagued by margin woes. Celestica’s products are highly sophisticated and typically based on the latest technological innovations, which have historically led to high research and development costs. High operating expenses have contracted margins. Moreover, Celestica faces stiff competition from industry giants like Foxconn, Flex and Sanmina Corporation SANM. The highly cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry remains an overhang, particularly in the aftermath of the tariff war.
The Case for IBM
IBM is poised to benefit from healthy demand trends for hybrid cloud and AI, which drive the Software and Consulting segments. The company’s growth is expected to be aided by analytics, cloud computing and security in the long term. With a surge in traditional cloud-native workloads and associated applications, along with a rise in generative AI deployment, there is a radical expansion in the number of cloud workloads that enterprises are currently managing. This has resulted in heterogeneous, dynamic and complex infrastructure strategies, which have led firms to undertake a cloud-agnostic and interoperable approach to highly secure multi-cloud management, translating into a healthy demand for IBM hybrid cloud solutions.
In addition, the buyout of HashiCorp has significantly augmented IBM’s capabilities to assist enterprises in managing complex cloud environments. HashiCorp’s tool sets complement IBM Red Hat’s portfolio, bringing additional functionalities for cloud infrastructure management and bolstering its hybrid multi-cloud approach.
Despite solid hybrid cloud and AI traction, IBM is facing stiff competition from Amazon.com, Inc.’s AMZN AWS and Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT Azure. Increasing pricing pressure is eroding margins, and profitability has trended down over the years, barring occasional spikes. The company faces a potent threat from AI firm Anthropic as the latter’s Claude Code tool can modernize legacy COBOL systems — a foundational programming language deeply embedded in IBM’s mainframe ecosystem. With Claude Code proposing to substantially automate code exploration, documentation, refactoring and security analysis, it threatened to reduce enterprises’ reliance on specialized legacy service providers like IBM, bringing its sustenance at stake.
How Do Zacks Estimates Compare for CLS & IBM?
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Celestica’s 2026 sales and EPS implies year-over-year growth of 53.8% and 67.9%, respectively. The EPS estimates have been trending up 15.1% over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IBM’s 2026 sales and EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 6% and 7%, respectively. The EPS estimates have trended down 0.2% over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Price Performance & Valuation of CLS & IBM
Over the past year, Celestica has gained 191.2% compared with the industry’s growth of 147.2%. IBM has declined 1.5% over the same period.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Celestica looks more attractive than IBM from a valuation standpoint. Going by the price/sales ratio, IBM’s shares currently trade at 3.58 forward sales, higher than 1.9 for Celestica.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CLS or IBM: Which is a Better Pick?
While Celestica carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), IBM has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Both Celestica and IBM expect sales and earnings to improve in 2025. Celestica has shown sharp revenue and EPS growth over the years, while IBM has exhibited linear growth. It boasts a better price performance with comparatively more attractive valuation metrics. With a superior Zacks Rank and better operating metrics, Celestica seems to be a better investment option at the moment.
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This top pick is a little-known satellite-based communications firm. Space is projected to become a trillion dollar industry, and this company's customer base is growing fast. Analysts have forecasted a major revenue breakout in 2025. Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Celestica vs. IBM: Which AI Infrastructure Stock is the Better Buy?

IBM (IBM) closed at $230.12 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.69% move from the prior day. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.82% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.77%.
The technology and consulting company's stock has climbed by 9.89% in the past month, exceeding the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 1.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.8%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of IBM in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $3.76, indicating a 2.84% decline compared to the equivalent quarter last year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $17.6 billion, indicating a 1.26% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.12 per share and revenue of $62.8 billion. These totals would mark changes of +5.2% and +1.52%, respectively, from last year.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for IBM. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.08% higher. As of now, IBM holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that IBM has a Forward P/E ratio of 22.89 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 14.87 for its industry.
It is also worth noting that IBM currently has a PEG ratio of 5.2. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. IBM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.34 as of yesterday's close.
The Computer - Integrated Systems industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 65, finds itself in the top 26% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

IBM (IBM) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

International Business Machines Corporation IBM has partnered with Google Cloud to help businesses adopt artificial Intelligence (AI) faster and modernize their technology systems. The deal creates a new Google Cloud Practice within IBM Consulting, combining IBM’s industry expertise and AI-powered IBM Consulting Advantage platform with Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise AI platform.
IBM will utilize thousands of Google Cloud-certified consultants and engineers to help businesses deploy AI, modernize legacy systems and manage hybrid cloud environments. It is also developing industry-specific AI agents for sectors such as banking, telecommunications, government, retail, insurance, energy and life sciences, helping organizations automate tasks, improve decision-making and accelerate digital transformation while creating new growth opportunities for IBM’s consulting and software businesses.
The collaboration further strengthens the company’s expertise in cybersecurity, data management and cloud infrastructure. By integrating Google Cloud’s Gemini AI capabilities with its watsonx platform and using technologies such as Red Hat OpenShift, HashiCorp, Apptio, BigQuery and Confluent, IBM aims to help businesses improve automation, gain deeper data insights and enhance operational efficiency.
The agreement reinforces IBM's strategy of expanding its consulting, cloud and AI capabilities to support enterprise technology transformation. This initiative is likely to support stronger customer engagement and contribute to the company’s long-term growth prospects.
How Are Competitors Advancing in the AI Space?
IBM faces competition from Microsoft Corporation MSFT and Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN. Microsoft is expanding its AI offerings by adding new tools and models across its products and cloud services. The company is enhancing its Copilot assistant to help businesses and developers improve productivity. Microsoft is investing in infrastructure to support the growing demand for intelligent applications.
Amazon is strengthening its AI business through Amazon Web Services by offering advanced tools and services to customers. The company is improving Amazon Q, its AI assistant, to help organizations work more efficiently. Amazon is expanding its product portfolio to support the growing adoption of intelligent technologies across industries.
IBM’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
IBM shares have gained 4.7% over the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 218.9%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation standpoint, IBM trades at a forward price-to-sales ratio of 3.67, below the industry average of 6.18.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Earnings estimates for 2026 have declined 0.3% to $12.40 over the past 60 days, while the same for 2027 have remained static at $13.36.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
IBM currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is Here
The AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Can IBM Gain From Its Growing AI Collaboration With Google Cloud?

D-Wave Quantum QBTS or D-Wave is advancing its push toward commercial, fault-tolerant quantum computing. The company recently laid out a new gate-model roadmap, targeting 100 logical qubits capable of successfully performing over 1 million operations by 2032. The strategy builds on D-Wave’s expertise in high-coherence dual-rail qubits and quantum error correction, while leveraging its expertise in scaling and commercializing superconducting quantum systems.
At its first Investor Day on June 1, the company detailed a series of technical milestones underpinning this roadmap, including a 17-physical-qubit system in 2026 that supports logical error rates two times lower than physical error rates. D-Wave also expects to complete a 49-physical-qubit system in 2027, capable of a 20-fold error reduction factor and a 181-physical-qubit system in 2028 that can deliver a 2,000-fold error reduction factor.
Unlike many industry peers that focus on scaling physical qubits, D-Wave is pursuing an approach centered on reducing errors at the hardware level. Its dual-rail qubit architecture incorporates error detection directly into the qubits, allowing errors to be detected during computation at the single-qubit level.
According to D-Wave, its dual-rail qubits can identify approximately 90% of errors as they occur, helping reduce the number of physical qubits required to perform error correction. This is in contrast to many other gate-model hardware modalities that cannot detect qubit errors. The company has also demonstrated 99.9% two-qubit fidelities with error detection, meaning physical errors occur only about one in every 1,000 operations.
Also, the roadmap calls for achieving a Lambda of 10, which D-Wave expects will reduce errors by a factor of 10 for each increment in error correction, making it possible to achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing with significantly fewer physical qubits.
What QBTS’ Peers Are Up To?
IonQ IONQ, last month, marked the commercial launch of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) capabilities through its space missions line. The offering enables millimeter-precision ground deformation monitoring with fully automated tasking and data delivery, allowing customers to detect and track physical change on the Earth’s surface consistently, at a frequency and scale never previously available from a commercial SAR provider. IonQ’s InSAR solution removes manual coordination and long revisit intervals.
IBM IBM has announced plans to invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing over the next five years, spanning research and development, capital expenditure, manufacturing scaling, ecosystem partnerships and M&A. Collectively, these areas are designed to speed up IBM's quantum roadmap beyond its goal of delivering the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in 2029 and bolster U.S. quantum leadership.
QBTS Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Over the past three months, D-Wave shares have rallied 47.4%, well ahead of the industry’s 3.6% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
In terms of valuation, D-Wave is trading at a forward two-year Price/Sales (P/S) of 164.19X, significantly above its median and industry average.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Estimates for D-Wave’s full-year 2026 and 2027 earnings are showing a mixed trend over the past 90 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
D-Wave currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

D-Wave Unveils Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing Plan: What's Ahead?

Key Points
Rigetti stock surged over 46% in May, driven by a $100 million federal grant commitment under the CHIPS and Science Act
Q1 earnings beat expectations with revenue nearly tripling year over year to $4.4 million, though the company continues to burn cash with negative free cash flow of $20.6 million.
Rigetti launched its 108-qubit Cepheus system with 99.1% two-qubit gate fidelity, falling short of its 99.5% target but still marking a critical technical milestone after delays.
Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ: RGTI) stock went on a massive run in May, surging over 46%.
Shares got a boost from a marketwide rally that saw the Nasdaq Composite gain more than 8%, but better-than-expected Q1 earnings and a major announcement from the federal government both sent the stock higher.
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Federal quantum funding gives Rigetti a major boost
On May 21, the U.S. Department of Commerce signed letters of intent to award $2 billion in federal grants to nine quantum computing companies under the CHIPS and Science Act. Aimed at accelerating the development of "utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing," the program was seen as a major endorsement from the federal government.
Rigetti will receive up to $100 million over three years, per a letter of intent. That's a pretty big sum for a company that generated just $4.4 million in revenue last quarter, and it helps provide a financial runway.
Shares jumped nearly 57% on the day of the announcement and the day following.
The CHIPS Act announcement was a big moment for the whole quantum industry. Rigetti was far from the only pure play stock to see a huge spike on the news.
Q1 earnings beat expectations as revenue nearly triples
Earlier in the month, Rigetti released its Q1 2026 earnings. Revenue came in at $4.4 million, a nearly 200% year-over-year increase and well above analyst targets. The growth was driven by deliveries of the company's Novera quantum processing units, as well as netting some government contracts.
The company is still burning cash, however, with a free cash flow (FCF) of -$20.6M.
Metric
Q1 2026
Q1 2025
Revenue
$4.4M
$1.5M
EBITDA
($23.3)
($19.8)
Cash
418.3M
209.1M
Cepheus finally launches
The company also hit an important technical milestone. Rigetti's 108-qubit Cepheus system was finally released. The company says it achieved "two-qubit gate fidelity" of roughly 99.1%, with targets of 99.5% fidelity and 150-plus qubits by year-end.
The Cepheus system had been delayed, so its successful launch was a critical win.
IBM's $10 billion quantum commitment helps boost shares
Right at the end of the month, IBM added fuel to the rally by announcing plans to invest more than $10 billion in quantum computing. Over the next five years, the company plans to invest that money in R&D, manufacturing, and "ecosystem partnerships".
Should you buy stock in Rigetti Computing right now?
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Johnny Rice has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends International Business Machines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

International Business Machines Corporation

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