There’s no getting around it, International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) has been one of the market’s favorite punching bags for the past several years. Even with a 28% gain since its early 2016 low, IBM stock is still off 26% from its early 2013 peak, mostly thanks to 23 consecutive quarters of declining year-over-year revenue.

But things changed during the recently-completed 24th quarter — sales finally grew 4%.

Well, maybe things changed. It’s certainly a step in the right direction — though it’s still going to be a slow slog down the road to recovery if that is, indeed, what’s in the cards.

Thing is, IBM’s overhaul may have turned it into a more relevant technology powerhouse than it’s currently getting credit for.

New and Improved

The event was this year’s “Think” conference, IBM’s annual pow-wow to explain to the world what it sees for the future of the tech world, and how the company fits into that picture. IBM has been largely brushed off of late because, well, its tardiness in joining the cloud computing and artificial intelligence party made it rather irrelevant.

This appears to have changed, when looking at the body of work (as a whole) the company has developed over the past year and showcased at the 2018 Think event.

Take, for instance, the Deep-Learning-as-a-Service platform IBM unveiled just a few days ago. It solves a real problem too many companies are facing right now, which is not enough programmers skilled enough to code artificial intelligence algorithms that unlock the full potential of AI. IBM’s solution is a drag-and-drop deep-learning interface that allows most anyone to manipulate massive amounts of data into a virtual, intuitive intelligence.

Another modern-era idea IBM CEO Ginny Rometty is embracing — partners.

In the past, tech giants generally preferred to develop products and services in-house, opting to not help even indirect or potential rivals become stronger players. That way of thinking is a relic, though, and now IBM sees the power of working with once-unlikely bedfellows.

Case in point: IBM’s relationship with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). It was forged four years ago when Apple and IBM teamed up to turn the iPad into a business-oriented tool. The relationship has deepened, however, with the aforementioned deep-learning solution now available on Apple’s mobile devices powered by its A11 processor. The end result is making IBM-made apps running on iOS devices that much more powerful.

Then there’s the company’s new blockchain platform.

While Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have given blockchain a bad name, it’s important to understand that blockchain and Bitcoin aren’t the same thing. Blockchain is the distributed ledger technology that just so happens to power Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Its uses, however, extend far beyond digital currencies. It can be used to track shipped goods, secure digital documents in the cloud, transact deals in real time without the use of cash or checks, manage wireless spectrum and more.

It’s those more credible uses of the technology IBM is taking aim at, and with its simpler (and cheaper) blockchain-development product announced at this year’s Think conference, all those blockchain ideas can start to be turned into realities by even the smaller players that might not otherwise be able to build their own digital-ledger product.

Bottom Line on IBM Stock

In other words, this is not your father’s IBM stock.

International Business Machines is still operating its legacy business like servers, custom-built enterprise software and so on. It’s just no longer the focal point. New-technology initiatives now make up the bigger chunk of the revenue pie, more than offsetting the ongoing deterioration of its older, increasingly obsolete product lines. It just takes a holistic look like the one offered at this year’s Think conference to fully appreciate this reality.

It’s also crucial to understand that while the company may have “turned the corner,” the trajectory is still a shallow one, and IBM still has plenty of competition. IBM stock could take a big hit in the wake of another tumble in revenue rather than another report of year-over-year growth. Don’t take anything for granted.

To the true long-termer though, this is a compelling paradigm shift rooted in the right reasons. For the first time in a long time, IBM knows what the future likely holds, and it knows what it has to do to be part of that future.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley.