Shares of IBM jumped more than 4% in Tuesday's premarket trading after a one-two punch of good news: President Donald Trump gave the company a shout-out at a White House quantum technology event, and JPMorgan upgraded the stock, boosting investor sentiment.
JPMorgan raised its rating on IBM to Overweight from Neutral and lifted its price target to $291 from $270. The bank cited growing confidence in the company's artificial intelligence and software strategy. The move comes as the broader market was under pressure, with Nasdaq futures falling 2.66% and S&P 500 futures down 1.30%.
At the White House event, Trump praised IBM's CEO for leading a chip fabrication push in the U.S., and even admitted regret over selling IBM stock too soon. "Not a good move," he said, according to reports.
IBM Joins OpenAI Cyber Program
Separately, IBM announced Monday that it has joined OpenAI's Daybreak Cyber Partner Program and launched a new AI-powered application security service. The managed service uses OpenAI's cyber capabilities to analyze code, prioritize high-risk flaws, and identify exploitable paths beyond traditional code scanning.
IBM said the offering operates within customers' environments through IBM Consulting Advantage and supports both targeted assessments and continuous monitoring. The announcement builds on Project Lightwell, IBM's $5 billion initiative with Red Hat to strengthen software supply chain security using frontier AI models.
Technical Picture Remains Mixed
Despite Tuesday's premarket rally, IBM's technical setup is not all sunshine and roses. The stock is trading about 5.2% above its 50-day simple moving average of $250.84 and 3.8% above its 100-day average of $254.22, suggesting the intermediate trend remains positive.
However, shares remain 4.8% below the 20-day moving average of $277.23 and 3.5% below the 200-day moving average of $273.49, indicating longer-term resistance is still in play. Momentum indicators also warrant caution. The MACD remains below its signal line, suggesting bullish momentum has weakened. And the 50-day moving average remains below the 200-day moving average following the death cross formed in March.
Key resistance stands near $310, while major support sits around $212.50.
Earnings Ahead
IBM is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on July 22. Wall Street expects earnings of $3.00 per share, up from $2.80 a year earlier, on revenue of $17.85 billion, compared with $16.98 billion in the prior-year quarter.
Analysts remain broadly constructive on the stock. Recent research includes a Buy rating from Citigroup with a $375 price forecast, an Overweight initiation from Barclays with a $350 price forecast, and an Outperform rating from Wedbush with a $320 price forecast.
As of premarket trading Tuesday, IBM shares were up 4.33% at $263.15.
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