Wedbush Raises IBM Price Target to $350, Bullish on AI as Positive Catalyst
Alina Collins
Wedbush lifted its IBM price target from $320 to $350 and kept an outperform rating, citing incremental positive catalysts across AI and hybrid cloud — yet IBM's pre-market stock price fell 3.8%.
Why is Wedbush doubling down on IBM now?
Analysts found IBM maintaining strong momentum across AI, hybrid cloud, automation, and cybersecurity.
The thesis: enterprise clients want trusted, scalable, and compliant solutions for complex environments. IBM bundles software, consulting, and infrastructure into a single tech stack — that integration is its flywheel advantage.
This means → Wedbush is betting not on one product but on IBM's role as a one-stop enterprise platform.
What does the $11 billion Confluent deal actually buy?
IBM spent $11 billion on Confluent. Wedbush calls it a move to build a "data moat."
In plain terms = Confluent specializes in real-time data streaming — making data flow automatically between different systems. Owning it lets IBM connect applications, analytics, data, and AI agents end to end inside its hybrid-cloud ecosystem.
The report also notes IBM has already realized $4.5 billion in internal productivity gains, not yet counting savings from its in-house AI tool "IBM Bob."
Is the market really undervaluing IBM's quantum play?
Wedbush says IBM's quantum-computing position is still underappreciated. IBM expects to achieve "quantum advantage" — a quantum computer outperforming a classical one on a real task — this year.
The numbers are big: IBM forecasts quantum computing will create $1 trillion in value over the next decade, with technology providers capturing roughly 20%. Its quantum partner program has signed over $1 billion in cumulative contracts.
IBM has also committed $10 billion to quantum over five years and signed a letter of intent with the U.S. federal government to build a quantum-chip foundry on American soil.
Target raised — so why did the stock drop?
Wedbush raised its target to $350, yet IBM fell 3.8% pre-market.
This reflects a gap between short-term sentiment and the longer-term analyst call — on Monday, IBM had already surged over 7% after a resurfaced Trump post went viral, so the pre-market dip looks like profit-taking.
The same day, Barclays initiated coverage on IBM with an overweight rating. Two firms turning bullish at once sends a consistent signal.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.