• Wedbush maintains an "Outperform" rating for IBM (NYSE:IBM), raising the price target from $325 to $340.
• IBM's guidance for 2026 indicates a modest 5% sales growth projection, raising concerns amidst its $11 billion acquisition of Confluent.
• Despite challenges, IBM boasts a strong GenAI order book valued at $12.5 billion, primarily from consulting services.

International Business Machines Corporation, known as IBM, is a global technology and consulting company. It offers a wide range of services, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and hardware. IBM competes with other tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon in the cloud and AI sectors. Recently, Wedbush maintained its "Outperform" rating for IBM, indicating confidence in the company's future performance.

On January 29, 2026, IBM's stock price was $294.16 when Wedbush announced its rating. The firm also raised IBM's price target from $325 to $340, as highlighted by TheFly. This suggests that analysts see potential for IBM's stock to grow, despite some challenges in its business outlook.

IBM reported solid fourth-quarter results, but its guidance for 2026 shows only a 5% sales growth projection. This modest growth outlook might concern investors, especially with the company's recent $11 billion acquisition of Confluent. The acquisition raises questions as growth from Red Hat, a previous acquisition, is slowing.

Despite these concerns, IBM has a strong GenAI order book valued at $12.5 billion. However, most of this is from consulting, which only grew by 1%. This indicates that while there is demand for IBM's AI services, the growth is not as robust as expected. The demand for AI cloud services remains high, which could be a positive factor for IBM moving forward.

IBM's stock has shown some stability, with a slight increase of 0.10%, or $0.30, on the day of the announcement. The stock fluctuated between $291.26 and $295.90, reflecting some volatility. Over the past year, IBM's stock has ranged from a high of $324.90 to a low of $214.50. With a market capitalization of approximately $274.96 billion and a trading volume of 4.23 million shares, IBM remains a significant player in the tech industry.