Software buy for IBM

Article Excerpt

IBM $135.48 (New York symbol IBM; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $170.9 billion; SI Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.9%) continues to expand its software business, mostly through acquisitions. The company’s latest purchase is Unica Corp. (Nasdaq symbol UNCA). Unica’s software analyzes customer buying preferences. That helps its clients design better advertising campaigns. IBM will pay $480 million for Unica when the deal closes by the end of 2010. The company can easily afford this purchase: it held cash of $12.2 billion, or $9.71 a share, on June 30, 2010. IBM is still a buy. buy…