IBM’s AI-Powered Consulting Growth Sparks Market Optimism
IBM is making a comeback, and Wall Street is taking notice.
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani sees a bright future for International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), following its latest earnings report. Investor enthusiasm has sent IBM’s stock soaring, making it the top performer in both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The stock is on track for its best single-day gain ever.
What’s driving this rally? Confidence in IBM’s consulting business.
“We believe IBM’s unique position across software and consulting is starting to inflect higher, with AI and potential mergers & acquisitions acting as key catalysts,” Daryanani wrote.
IBM’s software revenue jumped 11.5% on a currency-neutral basis last quarter, showing strong momentum. Although consulting revenue declined by 1%, the company expects growth to accelerate, backed by $5 billion in AI-related contracts that can be converted into sales.
Shares of IBM surged 12.5% in afternoon trading, marking their biggest one-day gain since a 13% rise on July 20, 2000.
IBM’s revenue grew just 1% last year, but the company is now targeting at least 5% growth in 2025 after currency adjustments. Ben Reitzes of Melius Research emphasized that consulting is playing a critical role in this turnaround.
“Shifting consulting from a headwind to a tailwind—along with an expected boost from the mainframe cycle later this year—enabled IBM to project 5%+ constant currency revenue growth for 2025,” Reitzes wrote. “For long-time IBM watchers, this level of growth is rare.”
And the outlook could improve further. Will next week’s analyst day reveal a roadmap for even faster expansion?
“We believe IBM has the potential to accelerate from 5%+ to 7% growth over the next few years as it shifts further toward Red Hat and other high-growth software segments like HashiCorp and automation,” Reitzes added.
Morgan Stanley’s Erik Woodring noted that IBM’s stock momentum suggests the market views the 2025 outlook as conservative, with room for upside in areas like organic software growth.
“There’s also a belief that IBM could be gearing up for more M&A activity (which we agree with), potentially driving even stronger results in 2025,” Woodring wrote. “At this point, the burden is on the skeptics to explain why IBM’s momentum won’t continue beyond next week’s analyst day.”
IBM’s AI-driven transformation is gaining traction, and investors are betting this is just the beginning.
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