International Business Machines Corp Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (IBM)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• IBM's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 2.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 0.3%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The stock has not only risen over the past year, it has done so at a faster pace than the S&P 500, reflecting the earnings growth and other positive factors similar to those we have cited here. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
• INTL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP has improved earnings per share by 13.0% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, INTL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP increased its bottom line by earning $13.12 versus $11.58 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($15.06 versus $13.12).
• The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the IT Services industry and the overall market, INTL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP's return on equity significantly exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• Net operating cash flow has increased to $4,291.00 million or 13.15% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, INTL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP has also modestly surpassed the industry average cash flow growth rate of 11.07%.

International Business Machines Corporation provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. The company operates in five segments: Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing. The company has a P/E ratio of 14.6, equal to the average computer hardware industry P/E ratioand below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. International Business Machines has a market cap of $225.6 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are up 6.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday.

You can view the full International Business Machines Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.
By TheStreet Wire07/04/12 - 07:40 AM EDT--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.