Is IBM a good stock to buy?

IBM has a lot of promise, but that promise comes with a great deal of risk. So, if you're risk-tolerant and don't get married to the idea of full-scale quantum computing hitting right on time in 2029, it could be a good addition to a well-balanced portfolio. It has been a reliable computing stock for decades and should remain so over the long term. It also pays a small dividend, which is attractive for income investors.

Where will IBM stock be in five years?

Based on current forecasts, IBM stock may approach $500 by 2030. However, this is assuming that it continues on its favorable trajectory and isn't caught in some kind of possible AI blowback or sudden lack of interest.

Is IBM stock going to split in 2026?

IBM stock was trading at around $240 in March 2026, so it's unlikely that it will split now since shares are still affordable at this price. However, if it suddenly spiked in price and stayed high, you might expect a split.

What is the long-term forecast for IBM stock?

IBM has been a survivor since its early days, and it continues to plan for its future in a way that indicates that it's still on the edge of innovation. The long-term outlook for this company remains strong, and many analysts are still issuing buy recommendations.

IBM Stock Predictions for 2026 and Beyond

IBM Stock Predictions: What Investors Should Expect in 2026 and Beyond

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Mar 5, 2026 at 4:07 PM EST | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

IBM's future price target for 2026 remains above current levels despite competition.
By 2030, IBM stock could significantly rise if it masters quantum computing.
IBM's debt has increased due to acquisitions aimed at boosting AI and quantum tech.

After IBM stock's recent freefall due to a threat from Anthropic's Claude that could disrupt IBM's mainframe programming language moat, investors may well wonder what to expect from an IBM stock forecast. There's a lot to think about when it comes to this legacy computing giant, including how recent upstarts could affect its business.

Read on to learn more about what we believe will happen with the stock in 2026 and 2030.

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NYSE: IBM

International Business Machines

Today's Change

(3.65%) $7.54

Current Price

$214.19

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$201B

Day's Range

$206.80 - $216.10

52wk Range

$199.19 - $332.46

Volume

10.6M

Avg Vol

11M

Gross Margin

57.56%

Dividend Yield

3.14%

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2030 forecast

If IBM can master quantum computing, the value of the stock could be considerably more than anticipated. However, CoinCodex has given a forecasted average annualized price of $484.33 for 2030, which would represent a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 19%.

It's a bold prediction for just four years in the future, but it's also not impossible given IBM's track record. The stock is up more than 100% over the last five years, despite the beating it took in early 2026.

If those days are discounted, IBM has seen an increase of about 150% in the last five years. The popularity of artificial intelligence (AI) stocks has helped to push the whole industry up, even though IBM is not a pure-play AI company.

IBM's highlights and risks

IBM exists in an industry that is currently experiencing a lot of very dramatic highs and lows, largely related to AI sentiment. But when it comes to more long-term trends, it still has highlights and risks to consider for the stock price.

The quantum computing question

IBM laid out its quantum computing roadmap in June 2025, projecting it would deliver the first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029. This could be a game changer not just for IBM but also for everyone who needs a lot of computing power in fields like engineering, pharmaceuticals, and others that have to solve very complicated problems.

If the company succeeds, its value could put today's AI stocks to shame. However, this comes with enormous downside risks, too. If it fails, it'll fail dramatically.

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Recent acquisitions and corresponding debt

IBM is building a hybrid cloud and generative AI system, largely through acquisition. And the purchases have led to a serious spike in debt.

In September 2025, IBM reported total debt of $66 billion, up from just $60 billion the year prior and largely due to the many acquisitions; debt is now about 45% of its total assets. If its big acquisitions go south or interest dies in AI and quantum computing, IBM may be left holding a very expensive bag for these popular but edge-case technologies.

The Anthropic situation

It's difficult to assess how serious Anthropic's threat to IBM actually is. We don't really know how well or how quickly Anthropic could disrupt IBM's legacy systems based on its COBOL programming language, but IBM says that its own tool, WatsonX Code Assistant, is also capable of modernizing its own code and has been in use for two years.

Mainframe sales accounted for 23% of IBM's revenue last year, and mainframe software accounted for about 29% of software sales. So, it's not nothing, but as IBM moves into other very high-demand areas, these legacy shares should shrink substantially.

Even if there is a little bit of a rocky road ahead, it shouldn't be a long-term issue, given what IBM is putting in place and its relative strength as one of the best tech stocks to buy.

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

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IBM Stock Predictions: What Investors Should Expect in 2026 and Beyond

Key Points