Shares of hybrid cloud provider and enterprise ai player IBM (IBM) – Get a free report have been rising recently, with their shares approaching highs not seen since 2017.
The stock, currently trading at approximately $163 per share, is up more than 12% since its Oct. 31 close of $144 per share.
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Reporting third-quarter results in October, the company posted $14.8 billion in revenue, an increase of 4.6%, and an operating profit margin of 55.5%.
“technology remains a critical source of competitive differentiation and progress for organizations around the world,” said Arvind Krishna, president and CEO of IBM, in a statement At the time. “Customers are increasingly adopting our Watsonx data and ai platform along with our hybrid cloud solutions to unlock productivity and operational efficiency.”
The company said it expects to see steady foreign exchange earnings growth between 3% and 5% by 2023.
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's “Mad Money,” said Thursday that Krishna has orchestrated a “real turnaround” at the company.
“I think stocks are cheap,” Cramer saying. “And I know, I hope I don't regret this, but I think it's actually a pretty good stock here and I wish I would have jumped on it to trust it at $145.”
Analysts' average price target for IBM is set at $156.71, below the stock's current levels.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives, in a Friday note, said he believes The tech bull market has officially begun.. Ives predicted that ai-driven spending will rise by at least 20% next year, boosting tech stocks by more than 20% through 2024.
“We consider ai to be the most transformative technology trend since the inception of the Internet in 1995 and believe many on the street are still underestimating the trillion dollars in ai spending that will occur over the next decade,” Ives said.
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