IBM (IBM) Expects 4.4% Revenue Growth in 2026, Acquires Confluent for $11B
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 13 2026
0mins
Source: seekingalpha
- Earnings Release Preview: IBM is set to release its Q4 2025 financial results on January 28, with analysts expecting 2026 guidance to indicate modest organic revenue acceleration, reflecting gradually improving customer demand despite ongoing IT budget rationalization.
- Earnings Forecast Upgrade: Goldman Sachs raised IBM's 2026 EPS estimate from $11.40 to $11.50, along with slight increases for 2027 and 2028, indicating confidence in the company's future profitability amid a stabilizing market.
- Cash Flow Outlook: Goldman Sachs anticipates IBM will generate over $15 billion in free cash flow in 2026, modeling $15.1 billion, which underscores the company's robust cash generation capabilities and potential for future investments.
- Acquisition Plan: IBM announced its intention to acquire data streaming pioneer Confluent for approximately $11 billion, with the deal expected to close by mid-2026, further enhancing IBM's competitive position in the data processing sector.
Analyst Views on CFLT
Wall Street analysts forecast CFLT stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for CFLT is 29.10 USD with a low forecast of 24.00 USD and a high forecast of 31.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
28 Analyst Rating
3 Buy
24 Hold
1 Sell
Hold
Current: 30.530
Low
24.00
Averages
29.10
High
31.00
Current: 30.530
Low
24.00
Averages
29.10
High
31.00
About CFLT
Confluent, Inc. provides a data streaming platform that enables customers to connect their applications, systems, and data layers and can be deployed as a fully-managed cloud-native software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, Confluent Cloud, as a self-managed software offering, Confluent Platform, or as a Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) managed service offering where the raw data resides inside a customer’s own cloud environment, WarpStream. The Company also offers professional services and educational services. The Company is focused on developing a category of data infrastructure focused on data in motion for developers and enterprises. Its cloud-native offering works across multi-cloud and hybrid infrastructures and supports a variety of deployment models to support diverse customer requirements, delivering massive scalability, elasticity, security, and global interconnectedness, enabling agile development. WarpStream offers a lower-cost option for relaxed latency use cases for customers.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
