Company Update (NYSE:IBM): Google Taps IBM, Rackspace to Dent Intel’s Hold on Server Chips

[at Bloomberg] – Google has technology to easily switch away from Intel Corp. server chips and is helping other companies do the same, a potentially worrying development for the dominant provider of processors that power … Read more on this. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) , valued at $144.15B, started trading this morning at $149.90. Looking at today’s trading action, the company’s one day range from $147.81 to $150.15 and has traded between $116.90 and $176.30 over the past 12 months. IBM shares are currently priced at 11.12x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 7.63x earnings multiple. The company pays shareholders $5.20 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.42%. According to a consensus of 20 analysts, the earnings estimate of $2.08 per share would be $0.83 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.87 sequential decrease. Furthermore, our analysis shows the full-year EPS estimate to be $13.49, which would be a $1.43 setback when compared to the last year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $18.25 Billion. If realized, that would be a 6.84% decrease over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Morgan Stanley upgraded IBM from Equal-Weight to Overweight (Feb 18, 2016). Previously, JMP Securities Initiated IBM at to Mkt Outperform. The average price target for IBM shares by the analysts covering the stock is $136.18, which is 9.15% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:IBM) Similar Articles: Company Update: International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – IBM to snap up Salesforce partner for $200 million Company Update: International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – REPORT: IBM 4Q Server Revenue Outpaces Overall 4Q Server Market Growth Stock Update (NYSE:IBM): IBM Watson Health Companies Awarded Five Best in KLAS Designations