IBM Goes Big With $5 Billion Stock Buyback

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When IBM (NYSE:IBM) reported its third-quarter earnings a couple weeks ago, the results were miserable. Since then, the shares are off almost 9%. Other mega techs like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) also had similar moves.

Today, though, IBM provided some much-needed support when it announced that it added $5 billion to its stock buyback program. In all, $11.7 billion are available for purchases, which represents about 5% of the outstanding shares.

Plus, IBM tends to follow-through on its buybacks. It purchased roughly $3 billion in stock for the past two quarters.

Still, this does not necessarily mean that the company will use up all the purchasing power. And while the $5 billion buyback plan is encouraging, it is still not enough. In early trading, IBM’s shares are up only about 0.5% to $194.32.

In other words, investors want to see some signs that the company is once again getting traction with revenue growth.

Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He is also the author of “How to Create the Next Facebook.”  Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books. They include Artificial Intelligence Basics and the Robotic Process Automation Handbook. His upcoming book is called Generative AI: How ChatGPT and other AI Tools Will Revolutionize Business.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2012/10/ibm-goes-big-with-5-billion-stock-buyback/.

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