IBM builds revenue in the cloud

Article Excerpt

IBM has a long history of breaking free of declining technologies. In 2004, it sold its personal computer operations as falling prices hurt the profitability of this business. More recently, it sold its less-profitable server and computer chip businesses. The company continues to aggressively expand into faster-growing fields such as cloud computing— storing and managing data on the Internet. That will help offset slowing demand for its mainframe computers and consulting services. We feel IBM’s transformation will succeed. Its strong brand will continue to attract corporate clients as they embrace cloud computing. That gives it a big advantage over smaller competitors. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. $153 (New York symbol IBM, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 960.0 million; Market cap: $146.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ibm.com) began operating in 1911, and is now one of the world’s largest computer companies with operations in over 175 countries. IBM has four main…