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IBM Cloud Bolsters Presence in Europe with NOVIS Adoption

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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) is gaining traction in Europe on the back of its cloud offerings. IBM Cloud was recently selected by NOVIS, a Bratislava, Slovakia-based insurance company. IBM Cloud capabilities will aid the company to upscale its business operations beyond Europe.

NOVIS’ clientele will also benefit from the new digital and omni-channel offerings. In fact, NOVIS moved its business to IBM Cloud with VMware virtualization in a bid to provide clientele with flexible, reliable and secured cloud architecture.

With the IBM Cloud adoption, NOVIS intends to simplify business processes and expand operational efficiencies. Notably, IBM Cloud supports NOVIS’ IT systems across all operating branches in ten European countries.

Per the press release, NOVIS is an innovation driven insurance provider. The company’s advanced solutions are listed in five broad categories under “NOVIS Pentagon of Innovations.”

We believe increasing adoption of IBM cloud by innovative companies like NOVIS, is expected to boost the company’s cloud revenues, consequently driving top-line growth.

IBM’s Initiatives to Bolster Presence Across Europe

IBM’s robust familiarity with managing and implementing cloud platforms has been a tailwind. IBM cloud is witnessing significant adoption across businesses based in Europe.

Moreover, IBM has 18 new availability zones across Europe, Asia and North America in the recent past. The company has also obtained Germany's C5 attestation. Given the increasing data related regulations, including the likes of European Union’s (“EU”) GDPR, businesses are pursuing means to control their data better.

Additionally, IBM Cloud offers local EU-based support to its clientele by which access can be confined to solely EU-based IBM employees. These factors are aiding the tech giant expand its presence in Europe.

IBM Cloud Gaining Traction

IBM’s sincere efforts seem to be materializing. Geographically, top-line growth was strongest in Europe, Middle East and Africa in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. The figure increased 4% from the year-ago quarter, driven by growth in Germany, the U.K., France and Spain.

The continued robust adoption of IBM Cloud is expected to benefit IBM, going forward. According to latest second quarter data from Synergy Research, IBM Cloud market share remained comparatively stable at approximately 8%, on the back of strength in company’s hosted private cloud offerings.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2018, IBM’s cloud revenues surged 18% from the year-ago quarter to $4.7 billion. The annual run rate for cloud as-a-service revenue increased 24% at cc on a year-over-year basis to $11.1 billion. Cloud revenues of $18.5 billion on a trailing 12-month basis now comprise more than 23% of IBM’s total revenues.

We believe the ongoing deal wins with its notable customer base will eventually aid IBM in competing against peers.

To Conclude

IBM’s advanced blockchain, cloud; machine learning ("ML") capabilities, among others poises its offerings well to gain robust adoption. Broad-based adoption of the z14 mainframe is also a positive.

However, IBM faces competition in the cloud market from Alibaba Cloud, Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services (“AWS”), which is a headwind.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

IBM carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Mellanox and Logitech International S.A. (LOGI - Free Report) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) are stocks worth considering in the same sector. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Mellanox and Logitech have a long-term earnings growth rate of 15% and 8%, respectively.

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