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IBM Boosts Generative-AI Powered Cybersecurity: Time to Buy?
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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) recently augmented the generative AI capabilities of its managed Threat Detection and Response Services with the launch of the IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Assistant.
Designed to accelerate and improve the identification, investigation and response to critical security threats, the Cybersecurity Assistant will form an integral part of IBM's watsonx data and AI platform along with IBM Consulting Advantage. This, in turn, is expected to empower IBM consultants to respond more proactively and precisely to critical cyber threats with consistency, repeatability, quality and agility.
Enhanced Threat Mitigation
The Cybersecurity Assistant includes a generative AI conversational engine with real-time insights and support on operational tasks to both clients and IBM security analysts. Utilizing IBM's broader generative AI capabilities that are built on the company's Granite foundation models and watsonx.ai platform, it can continuously learn from investigations, leading to faster response and accuracy with time.
Leveraging historical correlation analysis of similar threats, the Cybersecurity Assistant will aim to provide a holistic and integrative threat management approach to help security analysts better comprehend critical threats. In addition, it will reduce manual investigations and operational tasks with auto-recommend actions based on the historical patterns of analyzed activity and pre-set confidence levels. This, in turn, will help to effectively mitigate multi-dimensional cyber threats that have become rampant over time.
Betting Big on AI Solutions
In March, IBM took a giant step forward in enterprise AI innovation by integrating the open-source Mixtral-8x7B large language model into its watsonx AI and data platform. Built on innovative Sparse modeling and the Mixture-of-Experts technique, this model excels in rapid data processing and contextual analysis. Its ability to efficiently handle vast datasets makes it a valuable asset for businesses seeking actionable insights.
IBM’s Watsonx platform is likely to be the core technology platform for its AI capabilities. Watsonx delivers the value of foundational models to the enterprise, enabling them to be more productive. This enterprise-ready AI and data platform comprises three products to help organizations accelerate and scale AI — the watsonx.ai studio for new foundation models, generative AI and machine learning; the watsonx.data fit-for-purpose data store, built on an open lake house architecture; and the watsonx.governance toolkit to help enable AI workflows to be built with responsibility and transparency.
Competitive Pressure Remains a Drag
Despite solid hybrid cloud and AI traction, IBM is facing stiff competition from Amazon.com, Inc.’s (AMZN - Free Report) Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corporation’s (MSFT - Free Report) Azure. Increasing pricing pressure is eroding margins and profitability has mostly trended down over the years, barring occasional spikes. The company’s ongoing, heavily time-consuming business model transition to the cloud is a challenging task. Weakness in its traditional business and foreign exchange volatility remain significant concerns.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
IBM Outperforms Subindustry
Over the past year, IBM has gained 34.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 18.9%, outperforming its peers.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Key Valuation Metric
From a valuation standpoint, IBM appears to be trading at a premium relative to the industry and is trading well above its mean. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company shares currently trade at 18.69 forward earnings, higher than 17.14 for the industry and the stock’s mean of 12.64.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
End Note
IBM aims to benefit from the increasing propensity of business enterprises to undertake a cloud-agnostic and interoperable approach to secure multi-cloud management with a diligent focus on hybrid cloud and generative AI solutions. A better business mix, improving operating leverage through productivity gains and increased investments in growth opportunities are key growth drivers.
However, with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), IBM appears to be treading in the middle of the road, and new investors could be better off if they trade with caution. It is also trading at premium valuation metrics and investors could wait for a better entry point to cash in on its long-term fundamentals. Consequently, it might not be a prudent investment decision to bet on the stock at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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IBM Boosts Generative-AI Powered Cybersecurity: Time to Buy?
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) recently augmented the generative AI capabilities of its managed Threat Detection and Response Services with the launch of the IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Assistant.
Designed to accelerate and improve the identification, investigation and response to critical security threats, the Cybersecurity Assistant will form an integral part of IBM's watsonx data and AI platform along with IBM Consulting Advantage. This, in turn, is expected to empower IBM consultants to respond more proactively and precisely to critical cyber threats with consistency, repeatability, quality and agility.
Enhanced Threat Mitigation
The Cybersecurity Assistant includes a generative AI conversational engine with real-time insights and support on operational tasks to both clients and IBM security analysts. Utilizing IBM's broader generative AI capabilities that are built on the company's Granite foundation models and watsonx.ai platform, it can continuously learn from investigations, leading to faster response and accuracy with time.
Leveraging historical correlation analysis of similar threats, the Cybersecurity Assistant will aim to provide a holistic and integrative threat management approach to help security analysts better comprehend critical threats. In addition, it will reduce manual investigations and operational tasks with auto-recommend actions based on the historical patterns of analyzed activity and pre-set confidence levels. This, in turn, will help to effectively mitigate multi-dimensional cyber threats that have become rampant over time.
Betting Big on AI Solutions
In March, IBM took a giant step forward in enterprise AI innovation by integrating the open-source Mixtral-8x7B large language model into its watsonx AI and data platform. Built on innovative Sparse modeling and the Mixture-of-Experts technique, this model excels in rapid data processing and contextual analysis. Its ability to efficiently handle vast datasets makes it a valuable asset for businesses seeking actionable insights.
IBM’s Watsonx platform is likely to be the core technology platform for its AI capabilities. Watsonx delivers the value of foundational models to the enterprise, enabling them to be more productive. This enterprise-ready AI and data platform comprises three products to help organizations accelerate and scale AI — the watsonx.ai studio for new foundation models, generative AI and machine learning; the watsonx.data fit-for-purpose data store, built on an open lake house architecture; and the watsonx.governance toolkit to help enable AI workflows to be built with responsibility and transparency.
Competitive Pressure Remains a Drag
Despite solid hybrid cloud and AI traction, IBM is facing stiff competition from Amazon.com, Inc.’s (AMZN - Free Report) Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corporation’s (MSFT - Free Report) Azure. Increasing pricing pressure is eroding margins and profitability has mostly trended down over the years, barring occasional spikes. The company’s ongoing, heavily time-consuming business model transition to the cloud is a challenging task. Weakness in its traditional business and foreign exchange volatility remain significant concerns.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
IBM Outperforms Subindustry
Over the past year, IBM has gained 34.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 18.9%, outperforming its peers.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Key Valuation Metric
From a valuation standpoint, IBM appears to be trading at a premium relative to the industry and is trading well above its mean. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company shares currently trade at 18.69 forward earnings, higher than 17.14 for the industry and the stock’s mean of 12.64.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
End Note
IBM aims to benefit from the increasing propensity of business enterprises to undertake a cloud-agnostic and interoperable approach to secure multi-cloud management with a diligent focus on hybrid cloud and generative AI solutions. A better business mix, improving operating leverage through productivity gains and increased investments in growth opportunities are key growth drivers.
However, with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), IBM appears to be treading in the middle of the road, and new investors could be better off if they trade with caution. It is also trading at premium valuation metrics and investors could wait for a better entry point to cash in on its long-term fundamentals. Consequently, it might not be a prudent investment decision to bet on the stock at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.