Erste Group Bank Issues Pessimistic Outlook for IBM Earnings

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – Erste Group Bank dropped their FY2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of International Business Machines in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, March 24th. Erste Group Bank analyst H. Engel now anticipates that the technology company will post earnings of $13.35 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $13.38. Erste Group Bank currently has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for International Business Machines’ current full-year earnings is $10.78 per share.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The technology company reported $4.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.33 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $19.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. International Business Machines had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 38.15%. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.92 EPS.

IBM has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of International Business Machines from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Dbs Bank upgraded International Business Machines from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of International Business Machines in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $361.00 target price on International Business Machines in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.60.

International Business Machines Price Performance

International Business Machines stock opened at $241.82 on Thursday. International Business Machines has a 52-week low of $214.50 and a 52-week high of $324.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $266.87 and a 200-day moving average of $284.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of International Business Machines during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,446,429,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,021,912 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,523,720,000 after buying an additional 4,976,756 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of International Business Machines by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,617,117 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,663,847,000 after buying an additional 2,553,552 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in International Business Machines by 359.6% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,896,675 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $561,814,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in International Business Machines by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 97,216,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,796,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,439,824 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at International Business Machines

In other International Business Machines news, Director David N. Farr bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $304.00 per share, for a total transaction of $304,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,814,432. The trade was a 12.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael Miebach bought 434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $233.33 per share, for a total transaction of $101,265.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 434 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,265.22. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,484 shares of company stock worth $417,157 in the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

International Business Machines Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $1.68 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $6.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. International Business Machines’s payout ratio is 60.27%.

Key Headlines Impacting International Business Machines

Here are the key news stories impacting International Business Machines this week:

• Positive Sentiment: IBM inks advanced-voice partnership to boost watsonx Orchestrate capabilities, improving multilingual, secure agent experiences for enterprises — expands product functionality and go-to-market appeal. ElevenLabs & IBM PR
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded security collaboration with CrowdStrike to deliver AI-powered autonomous detection and response, addressing a high-value enterprise security market and reinforcing hybrid security product stack. IBM expands AI agents and security (Yahoo)
• Positive Sentiment: Quantum computing milestone: IBM’s quantum systems reproduced national-lab magnetic-material data, signaling faster progress toward useful scientific/commercial quantum applications — potential long-term differentiator. IBM Quantum PR
• Positive Sentiment: IBM pushes open-source AI infrastructure (llm-d contribution to CNCF), which can lower customer adoption friction and position IBM as an enterprise AI infrastructure leader. llm-d project (TipRanks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Workforce reshuffle: IBM is cutting some roles while planning to hire more, especially entry-level AI-augmented talent (tripling entry-level hires). This is positioned as redeployment to growth areas but brings short-term restructuring costs and execution risk. Workforce changes (MSN)
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Arvind Krishna notes a friendlier regulatory climate for M&A, which could accelerate deal activity — a strategic positive but speculative until deals are announced and integrated. CEO M&A comments
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst modest EPS cut: Erste Group trimmed its FY2027 EPS forecast slightly and maintains a Hold — small revision but a reminder that consensus estimates could drift and analyst sentiment is mixed. Erste Group estimate cut (MarketBeat)

International Business Machines Company Profile

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) is a global technology and consulting company headquartered in Armonk, New York. Founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and renamed IBM in 1924, the company has evolved from early electromechanical machines to a diversified technology provider serving enterprises and governments worldwide. IBM is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IBM.

IBM’s principal businesses encompass cloud computing and software, infrastructure and systems, consulting and technology services, and research and development.