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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights IBM, Amazon.com and Microsoft
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 12, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc.’s (AMZN - Free Report) and Microsoft Corporation’s (MSFT - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
IBM Boosts Generative-AI Powered Cybersecurity: Time to Buy?
International Business Machines Corporationrecently 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 Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corporation’s 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.
IBM Outperforms Subindustry
Over the past year, IBM has gained 34.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 18.9%, outperforming its peers.
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.
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.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.0 average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +44.9%, +48.4% and +55.2% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights IBM, Amazon.com and Microsoft
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 12, 2024 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM - Free Report) , Amazon.com, Inc.’s (AMZN - Free Report) and Microsoft Corporation’s (MSFT - Free Report) .
Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:
IBM Boosts Generative-AI Powered Cybersecurity: Time to Buy?
International Business Machines Corporationrecently 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 Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corporation’s 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.
IBM Outperforms Subindustry
Over the past year, IBM has gained 34.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 18.9%, outperforming its peers.
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.
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.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.0 average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +44.9%, +48.4% and +55.2% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
See Stocks Free >>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.