How to Buy IBM Stock
International Business Machines Corp
IBM is a information technology service company located in New York, United States, which is part of the Technology sector, and is traded under the ticker IBM on the NYSE exchange.
IBM stock last closed at $239.39, up 1.37% from the previous day, and has increased 42.98% in one year. It has overperformed other stocks in the Information Technology Services industry by 0.43 percentage points. IBM stock is currently +47.21% from its 52-week low of $162.62, and -10.16% from its 52-week high of $266.45.
At the moment, there are 929.4M IBM shares outstanding. The market capitalization of IBM is $222.49B. In the last 24 hours, 3.33M IBM shares were traded.
How to Buy IBM Stock
Wondering how to invest in IBM stock? Here's how.
- Decide where to buy IBM stock: You need to pick an online brokerage, but don't worry - we've analyzed dozens of online brokerages and apps to help you determine where to buy IBM stock.
- Sign up for your brokerage account: Sign up for 0% fee trading with the highest-rated brokerage we've found.
- Deposit funds into your brokerage account: Pick your method of payment and add your details.
- Evaluate IBM stock: The IBM ticker symbol is IBM. Is IBM stock a good investment? Should you buy shares of IBM? How do IBM's underlying business fundamentals look? Do top analysts think IBM is a good buy? Why has IBM's stock price moved recently? (Hint: Our stock market analysis tools can help you understand if IBM is a good stock to buy).
- Make your IBM trade: Decide if you will purchase IBM shares at the current market price or use a limit order to buy IBM stock at a given price.
- Get the latest news on your IBM investment: Create a watchlist to watch your position in IBM shares.
Step 1: Decide where to buy IBM stock
You will need a brokerage account to access the NYSE market and buy IBM shares.
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Open eToro AccountStep 2: Sign up for your brokerage account
Now that you've picked the best brokerage, you need to fill out some personal information so you can invest in IBM today.
How to Start a New Investment Account on eToro
- Click here to get started.eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.
- Input your personal info to create a new trading account.
- Submit your info by hitting the "Create Account" button. Get started with eToro today
Step 3: Deposit funds into your brokerage account
Now that you've finished signing up on our top ranked stock trading app, you can securely and quickly fund your account:
Check out the video below for more details depositing money into your brokerage account.
Step 4: Evaluate IBM stock
After you have selected the best place to buy IBM stock, it's crucial to analyze their stock before you invest, so you actually understand the risk as well as the opportunity.
IBM shares at a glance
IBM Due Diligence Checks
WallStreetZen was built to help everyday investors do more in-depth fundamental analysis quickly.
You can see all of the due diligence checks on IBM's stock page.
Is IBM stock undervalued?
You can use a variety of different financial metrics, analyses, models, and charts to gauge IBM's true value.
Using relative valuations methods:
- IBM may be overvalued based on its P/E ratio of 40.37x, relative to Information Technology Services industry P/E ratio of 26.36x
- IBM could be overvalued based on its P/B ratio of 8.28x, relative to Information Technology Services industry P/B ratio of 4.84x
- IBM could be overvalued based on its PEG ratio of 1.1x
You can do additional valuation analysis on IBM's stock here.
IBM Financial Health
Positive Health Checks:
- Total IBM debt is lower than 5 years ago, relative to shareholder equity.
- There are more short-term assets than short-term liabilities on the IBM balance sheet.
- IBM's operating cash flow of $13.65B allows it to safely service it's debt of $66.84B.
Negative Health Checks:
- IBM profit margin has gone down from 13.2% to 8.7% in the past year.
- IBM earnings of $7.59B is not enough to cover its interest payments.
- There are more long-term liabilities than short-term assets on the IBM balance sheet.
- IBM has a relatively high debt to equity ratio of 4.42.
Is it a good time to buy IBM stock, according to Wall Street analysts?
Out of 11 Wall Street analysts who track IBM, the consensus analyst rating on IBM is a Hold
It's important to keep in mind that analyst ratings are not recommendations, nor are they investment advice.
Latest IBM Analyst Forecasts
Param Singh, a bottom 25% analyst from Oppenheimer initiates coverage on IBM with a buy rating and announces their IBM price target of $320.00, on Feb 11, 2025.
Oppenheimer's Param Singh initiated their coverage on IBM (NYSE: IBM) with a Buy rating and a $320 price target.
Factors Singh identified as supporting their optimistic view on IBM include:
- IBM's software portfolio will experience consistent double-digit revenue growth, mainly from its Red Hat offerings.
- Consulting growth will inflect in 2H 2025 because of a recovery in application development and management.
- IBM has "optionality" when it comes to creating and managing AI applications.
The analyst went on to say that these factors will cause "strong expansion activity" with current clients and propel ongoing growth in gross and pre-tax margins.
Further, as the value of IBM's shift to software grows, Singh believes the stock should also re-rate higher.
Earnings Report
IBM reported:
For Q4 2024:
- EPS of $3.92, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.73 and Q4 2023's $3.87.
- Revenue of $17.55B, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $17.51B and Q4 2023's $17.38B.
For FY 2024:
- EPS of $10.33, up from FY 2023's $9.62.
- Revenue of $62.8B, up 1% ( 3% at constant currency).
For FY 2025, management guided:
- At least 5% revenue growth.
Chairman, President & CEO Arvind Krishna commented: “We closed the year with double-digit revenue growth in Software for the quarter, led by further acceleration in Red Hat.
"Clients globally continue to turn to IBM to transform with AI. Our generative AI book of business now stands at more than $5 billion inception-to-date, up nearly $2 billion quarter over quarter.
"Three years ago, we laid out a vision for a faster-growing, more profitable IBM.
"I'm proud of the work the IBM team has done to meet or exceed our commitments.
"With our focused strategy, enhanced portfolio, and culture of innovation, we're well-positioned for 2025 and beyond and expect revenue growth of at least five percent and free cash flow of about $13.5 billion this year."
Brian Essex, a top 7% analyst from JP Morgan maintains IBM with a hold rating and raises their IBM price target from $233.00 to $244.00, on Jan 30, 2025.
Wamsi Mohan, a top 6% analyst from Bank of America maintains IBM with a strong buy rating and raises their IBM price target from $260.00 to $270.00, on Jan 30, 2025.
Keith Bachman, a top 1% analyst from BMO Capital maintains IBM with a hold rating and raises their IBM price target from $260.00 to $280.00, on Jan 30, 2025.
Matthew Hedberg, a top 1% analyst from RBC Capital reiterates IBM with a buy rating and maintains their IBM price target from $250.00 to $250.00, on Jan 27, 2025.
You can dig deeper into what analysts are saying on the IBM stock forecast page.
IBM Momentum
IBM Revenue
Last year, IBM earnings were $5.47B. Over the past 5 year, IBM's earnings have increased by -10.23% per year. This was slower than the Information Technology Services industry average of 7.86%.
Last year, IBM revenue was $62.83B. Over the last 5 year, IBM's revenue has increased by 1.93% per year. This was slower than the Information Technology Services industry average of 4.58%.
You can analyze IBM's earnings and revenue performance here.
Are IBM executives and large shareholders buying or selling the stock?
Over the last 12 months, insiders at IBM have sold more shares than they have bought.
Robert David Thomas, Senior Vice President of IBM, was the latest IBM insider to sell. They sold $6,715,644.43 worth of IBM shares on Mar 3, 2025.
Learn more about who owns IBM stock here.
Can I rely on IBM as an income stream?
IBM pays a dividend of 2.79%, compared to the Information Technology Services industry's average dividend yield of 2.87%. If you owned $1,000 of IBM stock, you would have received $27.90 last year.
IBM dividend payments have consistently grown over the past decade and have remained stable.
Dig into more analysis about IBM dividend yield and history here.
What others are saying about IBM
One of the reasons eToro is our top-rated brokerage is because of its social trading community.
Click below to find out what other investors have to say.
Step 5: Make your IBM trade
You have two primary types of orders:
- Market order: A market order is an order to buy or sell a security at the best price on the market.
Market orders are generally fine for most investors. - Limit order: A limit order enables you to buy or sell a security at a specific price (or better).
If you want to make sure you're buying or selling at a given price, place a limit order.
Hit the Open Trade button and your broker will place your order.
If you want more help buying stocks on eToro, watch the how to video below:
Step 6: Get the latest news on your IBM investment
Now that you own some IBM shares, you'll want to keep up with your new stock purchase.
Start a watchlist to get alerted to the latest events about your IBM stock.
IBM Feed
How to Buy Stock in IBM
To summarize, here are the 6 steps to buy stock in IBM:
- Decide where to buy IBM stock
- Sign up for your brokerage account
- Deposit funds into your brokerage account
- Evaluate IBM stock
- Make your IBM trade
- Get the latest news on your IBM investment
If you are looking for a brokerage account, eToro is our favorite option.
Get Started with eToro TodayIf you would like to keep tabs on your investment in IBM, add IBM to your watchlist below.
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