IBM Stock Soars To Record High, Poised For Best Day In Over Half A Century: Retail Bullish As BMO Sees More Upside

International Business Machines Corp’s (IBM) stock soared nearly 14% to an all-time high of $261.80 on Thursday morning, before trimming some gains and heading for the largest single-day percentage gain since mid-July 2000.

Big Blue has returned to record territory for the first time in a decade, after a slew of price target hikes from Wall Street after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings beat.

After the market opened, BMO Capital raised its price target on IBM to $280 from $260 and kept a ‘Market Perform’ rating on the shares. 

The brokerage cited IBM’s better-than-expected free cash flow guidance of $13.5 billion for fiscal year 2025, which was driven by profit, even factoring in dilution from its pending HashiCorp acquisition. 

It also pointed to IBM’s conservative revenue outlook as a cautious approach by the company in setting market expectations. 

BMO Capital added that with IBM’s current annual revenue of $62.75 billion and a market capitalization of $211.4 billion, the company maintains a strong market position. 

The analyst sees potential growth opportunities for IBM, citing improvements in the Software portfolio and the company's leadership in GenAI Consulting.

IBM’s stock also gained momentum following news of its partnership with Telefónica Tech to enhance cybersecurity services using quantum-safe technology. 

The initiative aims to mitigate threats posed by quantum computing, which could disrupt traditional encryption methods.

Analysts at JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Stifel, RBC Capital, and Evercore ISI also raised their price targets, citing IBM’s accelerating software revenue growth and AI advancements.

IBM Sentiment and Message Volume on Jan.30 as of 11:00 a.m. ET | Source: Stocktwits

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment improved to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ a day ago as chatter surged further at ‘extremely high’ levels.

One user suggested that there’s weakness and resistance at $260 and investors should book profits before the stock takes a dip.

Another applauded that IBM was taking the spotlight away from big tech like Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META), which reported earnings before the market open on Thursday.

IBM’s stock has gained nearly 22% over the last year, with gains of 3% so far in 2025. 

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Editor's note: This story was updated to reflect the stock milestone change as of 2:20 pm ET.<

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