IBM Named Among Top 10 Dividend Aristocrat Stocks to Buy in 2026
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Apr 26 2026
0mins
Should l Buy IBM?
Source: Yahoo Finance
- Dividend Aristocrat Recognition: International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has been named among the top 10 Dividend Aristocrat stocks to buy in 2026, highlighting its stable dividend payment capability and long-term investment appeal, despite market reservations about its performance expectations.
- Price Target Increase: Morgan Stanley raised IBM's price target from $215 to $225 while maintaining an Equal Weight rating, indicating a cautiously optimistic outlook from analysts regarding the company's future performance and reflecting market expectations for its growth potential.
- Strong Financial Performance: In Q1 2026, IBM achieved a 6% revenue growth, driving a 13% increase in free cash flow, with software revenue rising 8% and infrastructure revenue increasing 12%, demonstrating robust performance across multiple business segments.
- Strategic Partnerships and Investments: IBM completed the Confluent deal in Q1 and established strategic collaborations with NVIDIA and Arm, aimed at enhancing the execution of AI workloads across its infrastructure, indicating the company's proactive approach to technological innovation and market competitiveness.
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Analyst Views on IBM
Wall Street analysts forecast IBM stock price to rise
16 Analyst Rating
11 Buy
4 Hold
1 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 222.330
Low
210.00
Averages
315.80
High
375.00
Current: 222.330
Low
210.00
Averages
315.80
High
375.00
About IBM
International Business Machines Corporation is a provider of global hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) and consulting expertise. The Company’s segments include Software, Consulting, Infrastructure and Financing. The Software segment includes hybrid cloud and AI platforms, which allow clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate. The Consulting segment focuses on integrating skills on strategy, experience, technology and operations by domain and industry. The Infrastructure segment is focused on the hybrid cloud infrastructure market, providing on-premises and cloud-based server and storage solutions. In addition, it offers a portfolio of life-cycle services for hybrid cloud infrastructure deployment. The Financing segment provides client and commercial financing, facilitating its clients’ acquisition of hardware, software and services. It helps clients in more than 175 countries.
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.
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- Technical Application: IBM will leverage its deep expertise in security and defense to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in widely used software, sharing its findings with the broader community to enhance the overall ecosystem's security.
- AI Model Utilization: Participants are utilizing Anthropic's latest AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, for defensive security work, designed to identify flaws and vulnerabilities in software code, further advancing security technology in the industry.
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- Project Participants: IBM has joined Project Glasswing, led by Anthropic, to safeguard critical software systems against AI-driven cybersecurity threats, alongside top tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google, highlighting the industry's focus on security.
- Technical Application: IBM will leverage its deep expertise in security and defense to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in widely used software, sharing its findings with the broader community to enhance the overall ecosystem's security.
- AI Model Utilization: Participants are utilizing Anthropic's latest AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, for defensive security work, designed to identify flaws and vulnerabilities in software code, further advancing security technology in the industry.
- Market Performance: Despite IBM's efforts in cybersecurity, its stock has dropped 25% this year and over 17% in the past 12 months, indicating poor market performance while investor sentiment remains neutral.
See More
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- Significant Stock Decline: Rigetti Computing's share price has plummeted from a record high of $56.34 last October to approximately $16 today, indicating a loss of investor confidence in its early mover advantage amid fierce competition and macroeconomic pressures that have deflated its valuation.
- Weak Revenue Growth: Despite generating $13.1 million in revenue in 2022, Rigetti is projected to see a decline to $12 million in 2023, highlighting its unstable revenue growth and widening net losses, which are expected to reach $75.1 million in 2023, indicating the company remains deeply unprofitable.
- Uncertain Future Outlook: Analysts anticipate Rigetti's revenue could rise to $23.6 million by 2026, but with a market cap of $5.5 billion, its projected sales multiple for 2027 stands at 126 times, suggesting that the stock remains overvalued and may face further declines.
- Intensifying Competition: Rigetti faces not only competition from rapidly growing quantum computing firms like IonQ but also challenges from tech giants like IBM, which could lead to stagnation or further declines in its stock price over the next 12 months, making it difficult to justify its current high valuation.
See More
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- Stock Plunge: Rigetti Computing's stock has plummeted over 70% from its record high of $56.34 last October, now trading around $16, reflecting the company's struggles against competitive pressures and macroeconomic headwinds in the quantum computing market.
- Weak Revenue Growth: Despite analysts projecting revenue to exceed $23.6 million by 2026, Rigetti reported only $13.1 million in revenue for 2022, coupled with a net loss of $75.1 million, indicating a continued deterioration in profitability.
- Intensifying Market Competition: Rigetti faces stiff competition not only from rapidly growing quantum computing firms like IonQ but also from tech giants like IBM, suggesting that its stock may stagnate or decline further over the next 12 months, struggling to justify its high valuation.
- Product and Service Development: Rigetti's Novera quantum processing units (QPUs) are primarily sold to government and research institutions, and while its cloud computing services platform (QCS) holds potential, the instability of revenue sources has left the company deeply unprofitable.
See More
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- Project Glasswing Partnership: IBM partners with Anthropic as part of Project Glasswing to protect critical software infrastructure globally, showcasing IBM's leadership in countering AI-driven attacks and enhancing client confidence in security measures.
- AI Defense Tools: IBM Concert leverages AI to help organizations identify and remediate vulnerabilities before threats emerge, transitioning from passive monitoring to coordinated intelligent responses, significantly enhancing enterprise security capabilities.
- Consulting Service Innovation: IBM Consulting aids clients in translating emerging AI risks into management strategies within their specific environments by redesigning vulnerability and open-source management, thereby improving clients' adaptability in rapidly changing contexts.
- Open Source Leadership: IBM's collaboration with Red Hat proactively contributes fixes and maintains enterprise-grade open-source components, helping clients swiftly address risks associated with unsupported code, ensuring reliable support and confidence in open-source technologies.
See More
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- Efficiency Through Integration: AusNet's collaboration with IBM and Salesforce has resulted in a unified platform that allows customers and electricians to centrally submit, track, and manage electricity connection requests, thereby enhancing service speed and transparency to meet rising grid demands.
- Significant Process Automation: The new system has automated 51% of applications end-to-end, reduced validation times by over 80%, and decreased guaranteed service level infringements, significantly alleviating manual workloads and strengthening compliance.
- Industry Recognition Highlights Achievements: The collaboration between AusNet and IBM was honored at the 2025 Salesforce Partner Innovation Awards, underscoring their significant accomplishments in enhancing customer experience and redefining industry standards, further solidifying their market position.
- Future Development Plans: AusNet intends to expand the existing platform into intelligent contact center capabilities and deeper asset planning integration, supporting Australia's long-term decarbonization and electrification goals, showcasing its vision as a next-generation, service-led utility.
See More
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- Strong IPO Performance: Cerebras began trading on Nasdaq with an IPO price of $185 per share, achieving an implied valuation of over $56 billion, and closing its first day up 68%, bringing its market cap close to $95 billion, indicating strong market confidence in its technology.
- Record Financing: The IPO raised $5.55 billion, marking the largest U.S. tech IPO since Uber in 2019, with underwriters having the option to exercise an additional 4.5 million shares, potentially increasing total proceeds to $6.38 billion, thereby enhancing the company's financial strength.
- Significant Technical Advantage: Cerebras' WSE-3 chip is 58 times larger than Nvidia's B200 model, featuring 250 times more on-chip memory and 2,625 times more memory bandwidth, which reduces reliance on external memory and enhances speed for specific tasks, showcasing its strong technological competitiveness.
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See More
