IBM stock price stayed on the upside on Wednesday, trading at $231.45 after gaining 1.2 percent at the time of writing. The tech company has been on an upward trajectory since early June, and has registered a 42 percent year-to-date gain, double the percentage gain by the S&P 500. In addition, it has outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index whose returns so far this year stand at 22 percent.
IBM’s focus on enterprise clients has paid off, with its Watsonx generative AI platform proving a hit just a year after rollout. With its sales likely to experience sharp growth, Wall Street analysts have been revising upwards their price targets for IBM stock price. Goldman Sachs analysts have this week retained their “Buy” rating on the stock raised the target price from $220 to $250- a massive 13.6 percent upside. Similarly, Bank of America analysts have their target at $250.
The company will announce its third quarter earnings in two weeks’ time, and that could inject fresh volatility into the stock price. IBM reported $15.77 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June, and beat EPS stimates by 11.9 percent. In addition, it reported a 13.6 percent year-over-year growth in net profit margin. The Wall Street consensus earnings forecast for the third quarter is at $15 billion, and a figure above that mark could create room for Nvidia-esque rally.
IBM stock price momentum is bullish-leaning, and the upside will continue if the action stays above the 231.09 pivot mark. That could see the first resistance coming at 234.00. However, an extended control by the sellers could break above that level to test 235.80.
Alternatively, moving below 231.09 will signal the onset of bearish control. If that happens, the first support could come at 229.22. That said, a stronger downward momentum could breach that level and render the upside narrative invalid. Meanwhile, the IBM share price could extend its decline to test the second support at 227.80.
This post was last modified on Oct 09, 2024, 17:31 BST 17:31