Wedbush keeps an Outperform on IBM (IBM, Financial) and ups its price target to $325, banking on the company's expanding AI and hybrid-cloud franchises to drive a renewed growth cycle.
Analysts led by Daniel Ives say recent field checks confirm IBM is emerging as one of the AI Revolution's early winners, thanks to a GenAI book of business north of $6 billion and a developer-driven ecosystem that fuels rapid innovation.
Three-quarters of AI workloads are expected to run on containers by 2027, and IBM's combination of WatsonX AI agents, Red Hat OpenShift and hybrid-cloud tooling positions it to capture a lion's share of that shift.
Beyond software, IBM is charting a course toward large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing, with its Quantum Nighthawk chip due later this year and the broader Quantum Starling platform slated for later this decade.
Wedbush argues these moves not only reinforce IBM's AI leadership but also underscore its capacity to layer in new revenue streams—from premium GenAI services to next-gen quantum use cases—over the coming years.
After a strong run in 2025, IBM still trades at valuations that understate its AI and quantum potential, Wedbush contends. As enterprises pour more workloads into hybrid-cloud and AI environments, vendors with end-to-end platforms—spanning infrastructure, software, AI and quantum—stand to generate outsized profits.
IBM's deep enterprise relationships and broad product suite give it a rare runway to monetize both near-term AI demand and longer-term quantum opportunities.
