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IBM (IBM) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, IBM (IBM - Free Report) closed at $138.67, marking a +0.44% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.13% loss on the day.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the technology and consulting company had lost 2.35% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.3% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.07% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from IBM as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect IBM to post earnings of $2.48 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 3.88%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $17.74 billion, up 1.03% from the year-ago period.

IBM's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.82 per share and revenue of $74.93 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +24.8% and +1.77%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for IBM should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.17% lower. IBM is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at its valuation, IBM is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 12.77. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 25.39, so we one might conclude that IBM is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that IBM has a PEG ratio of 1.57. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. IBM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.63 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Integrated Systems industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 103, which puts it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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