International Business Machines (IBM) is a global provider of hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and consultation services.

This year, IBM has made steady gains, up more than 28% in 2025 and 13% over the past three months. The stock trades at a record high currently after gaining 6% in the last five days. IBM has a market capitalization of $261.64 billion.

IBM’s Q1 Results Tops Estimates

International Business Machines posted its first-quarter results on April 23, reporting a profit of $1.06 billion or $1.60 per adjusted share. The figure exceeds analysts’ $1.42-per-share estimate. Revenue for the quarter came to $14.54 billion, flat compared to last year, while topping Wall Street’s $14.45 billion estimate.

The company reported an operating margin of 7.2%, unchanged from Q1 2024, while adjusted EBITDA stood at $3.4 billion, up from $3 billion in 2024. 

IBM continues to make strides in generative artificial intelligence, where bookings have crossed the $6 billion mark with more than $1 billion added in the recent quarter. 

For the ongoing Q2, management has guided for revenue of $16.575 billion at the midpoint, beating analysts’ forecast of $16.25 billion. For the full year, the company reiterated its revenue growth expectations at a minimum of 5% with free cash flow of about $13.5 billion.

A New Quantum Computer

Shares of IBM have been surging higher following the company’s announcement of a new quantum computer. 

IBM announced that it will build “the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer” named IMB Quantum Starling by 2029. The computer will be built at its Quantum Data Center in Poughkeepsie, New York. The main point of difference between Quantum Starling and the quantum computers available today is that Starling will be able to handle 20,000 more computations.

IBM is not an outsider in the quantum computing industry as it has many quantum computers worldwide. Unlike the traditional computers that use binary numbers 1s and 0s to process data, quantum computers rely on something called “qubits.” These qubits can exist on both 1 and 0 simultaneously due to superposition, giving them much more processing power but also making them vulnerable to errors.

IBM’s Starling is expected to execute 100 million quantum operations using 200 logical qubits and following the Starling unit, IBM plans to unveil Quantum Blue Jay which should process about 1 billion quantum operations with the help of 2,000 logical qubits.

Analyst Takes on IBM Stock 

Analysts view IBM as a good investment choice with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating on the stock, but its mean price target of $250.74 signals more than 11% downside potential. The stock has some mixed reviews from the 20 analysts in coverage, consisting of seven “Strong Buy” ratings, one “Moderate Buy” rating, 10 “Hold” ratings, and two “Strong Sell” ratings.