A shellshocked economy, spiraling debt at financial institutions, or just plain bad management -- on any given day, investors can name a number of reasons to sell a stock. Yet while panic never helps investors, it's still a good idea to play devil's advocate with investments from time to time.
Consider global technology services giant IBM (NYSE: IBM ) . The company has held up well in the recent downturn, but in Motley Fool CAPS, a significant number of the 3,436 members weighing in on Big Blue offer reasons to be bearish. I've already plucked out some of the common bullish rationale backing IBM, so here are three counterpoints, courtesy of CAPS.
1. Flat sales
While zero growth may be a relief to many these days, some investors still expect more from market leaders. IBM joined Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO ) and Dell (Nasdaq: DELL ) in reporting a weak top line last quarter, as overall demand sagged. And a recent UBS survey showed a weak outlook for IT spending in the U.S. and Europe this coming year, painting a gloomy macro picture.
2. More job cuts
IBM recently announced plans to cut more jobs. Like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG ) , it's already laid off or otherwise reduced staff. But while trimming headcount to "rightsize" a company for its potential markets is a good move in theory, some investors wonder whether the employee reduction may be going too far in some areas, leaving the company at risk of the lasting damage caused by brain drain.
3. Share price
With the economic outlook still uncertain, some CAPS members aren't too keen on IBM's current price -- if not from a pure valuation standpoint, then from a belief that it may likely go lower before it goes higher. Although Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL ) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC ) are showing some signs that may point toward a recovery, many investors don't feel confident that the economy is out of the woods quite yet.
Of course, IBM has survived and thrived despite dozens of obstacles in the past. Will it continue to outperform in the future? CAPS can be a great way to help you draw your own conclusion.
To see what the very best CAPS members are saying now about IBM, just click on over to Motley Fool CAPS and have a look.
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