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IBM (IBM) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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IBM (IBM - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $121.73, moving +1.11% from the previous trading session. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.07%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.71%.

Coming into today, shares of the technology and consulting company had gained 3.7% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 2.02%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.58%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from IBM as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 22, 2019. In that report, analysts expect IBM to post earnings of $4.85 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 6.37%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $21.76 billion, down 3.49% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for IBM. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.07% lower. IBM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, IBM is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 8.6. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 9.02.

Also, we should mention that IBM has a PEG ratio of 1.73. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Computer - Integrated Systems was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.73 at yesterday's closing price.

The Computer - Integrated Systems industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 49, putting it in the top 20% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

To follow IBM in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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