How to buy International Business Machines Corporation stock | $125.52

International Business Machines Corporation is an information technology services business based in the US. International Business Machines Corporation shares (IBM) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. International Business Machines Corporation employs 352,600 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$75 billion.

How to buy shares in International Business Machines Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for International Business Machines Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: IBM. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until International Business Machines Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$125.52, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of International Business Machines Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of International Business Machines Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

International Business Machines Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of IBM stocks over time.

International Business Machines Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-01-21.

Latest market close	USD$125.52
52-week range	USD$86.9458 - USD$150.8394
50-day moving average	USD$126.0836
200-day moving average	USD$122.5964
Wall St. target price	USD$138.2
PE ratio	14.7433
Dividend yield	USD$6.52 (5.05%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$8.823

Buy International Business Machines Corporation shares from these brokerages

Compare special offers, low fees and a wide range of types of investments among top trading platforms.

Is it a good time to buy International Business Machines Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of International Business Machines Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

International Business Machines Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $125.52 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2021-01-15)	-2.24%
1 month (2020-12-23)	1.31%
3 months (2020-10-23)	8.21%
6 months (2020-07-23)	-1.42%

1 year (2020-01-22)	-12.77%
2 years (2019-01-22)	2.45%
3 years (2018-01-22)	162.6
5 years (2016-01-22)	2.47%

Is International Business Machines Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing International Business Machines Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of International Business Machines Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

International Business Machines Corporation's P/E ratio

International Business Machines Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 15x. In other words, International Business Machines Corporation shares trade at around 15x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

International Business Machines Corporation's PEG ratio

International Business Machines Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 9.5324. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into International Business Machines Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

International Business Machines Corporation's EBITDA

International Business Machines Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$15.7 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a International Business Machines Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

International Business Machines Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$75 billion
Operating margin TTM	12.05%
Gross profit TTM	USD$36.5 billion
Return on assets TTM	3.72%
Return on equity TTM	40.1%
Profit margin	10.53%
Book value	$23.801
Market capitalisation	USD$115.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting International Business Machines Corporation shares

There are currently 24.6 million International Business Machines Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as International Business Machines Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 11.6% up from 22.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting International Business Machines Corporation shares can be evaluated.

International Business Machines Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

International Business Machines Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of International Business Machines Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of International Business Machines Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 4.7 million). International Business Machines Corporation's SIR currently stands at 5.2. In other words for every 100,000 International Business Machines Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 5200 shares are currently held short.

However International Business Machines Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of International Business Machines Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable International Business Machines Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case International Business Machines Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.03% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 International Business Machines Corporation shares in existence, roughly 30 shares are currently held short) or 0.0276% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable International Business Machines Corporation shares, roughly 28 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against International Business Machines Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short International Business Machines Corporation stock.

International Business Machines Corporation's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like International Business Machines Corporation.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

International Business Machines Corporation's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 17.23

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and International Business Machines Corporation's overall score of 17.23 (as at 01/01/2019) is excellent – landing it in it in the 14th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like International Business Machines Corporation is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

International Business Machines Corporation's environmental score

Environmental score: 0.91/100

International Business Machines Corporation's environmental score of 0.91 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that International Business Machines Corporation is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

International Business Machines Corporation's social score

Social score: 7.08/100

International Business Machines Corporation's social score of 7.08 puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that International Business Machines Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

International Business Machines Corporation's governance score

Governance score: 5.75/100

International Business Machines Corporation's governance score puts it squarely in the 1st percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that International Business Machines Corporation is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

International Business Machines Corporation's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. International Business Machines Corporation scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that International Business Machines Corporation has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

International Business Machines Corporation was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	17.23
Total ESG percentile	14.12
Environmental score	0.91
Environmental score percentile	1
Social score	7.08
Social score percentile	1
Governance score	5.75
Governance score percentile	1
Level of controversy	2

International Business Machines Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 57.56% of net profits

Recently International Business Machines Corporation has paid out, on average, around 57.56% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 5.05% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), International Business Machines Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 5.05% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In International Business Machines Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $6.52 per share.

International Business Machines Corporation's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

International Business Machines Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 10 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 9 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have International Business Machines Corporation's shares ever split?

International Business Machines Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 27 May 1999. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your International Business Machines Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for International Business Machines Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted International Business Machines Corporation's share price.

International Business Machines Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, International Business Machines Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $86.9458 up to $150.8394. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while International Business Machines Corporation's is 1.2416. This would suggest that International Business Machines Corporation's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

International Business Machines Corporation overview

International Business Machines Corporation provides integrated solutions and services worldwide. Its Cloud & Cognitive Software segment offers software for vertical and domain-specific solutions in health, financial services, and Internet of Things (IoT), weather, and security software and services application areas; and customer information control system and storage, and analytics and integration software solutions to support client mission critical on-premise workloads in banking, airline, and retail industries. It also offers middleware and data platform software, including Red Hat that enables the operation of clients' hybrid multi-cloud environments; and Cloud Paks, WebSphere distributed, and analytics platform software, such as DB2 distributed, information integration, and enterprise content management, as well as IoT, Blockchain and AI/Watson platforms. The company's Global Business Services segment offers business consulting services; system integration, application management, maintenance, and support services for packaged software; finance, procurement, talent and engagement, and industry-specific business process outsourcing services; and IT infrastructure and platform services. Its Global Technology Services segment provides project, managed, outsourcing, and cloud-delivered services for enterprise IT infrastructure environments; and IT infrastructure support services. The company's Systems segment offers servers for businesses, cloud service providers, and scientific computing organizations; data storage products and solutions; and z/OS, an enterprise operating system, as well as Linux. Its Global Financing segment provides lease, installment payment, loan financing, short-term working capital financing, and remanufacturing and remarketing services. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. The company was founded in 1911 and is headquartered in Armonk, New York.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of International Business Machines Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.128% of International Business Machines Corporation shares are held by insiders and 58.584% by institutions.

• How many people work for International Business Machines Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 352,600 work at International Business Machines Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for International Business Machines Corporation?

  International Business Machines Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is International Business Machines Corporation based?

  International Business Machines Corporation's address is: One New Orchard Road, Armonk, NY, United States, 10504

• What is International Business Machines Corporation's ISIN number?

  International Business Machines Corporation's international securities identification number is: US4592001014

• What is International Business Machines Corporation's CUSIP number?

  International Business Machines Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 459200101