New York, Jan 5, 2026, 14:09 (EST) — Regular session
- IBM shares rose on fresh bullish calls from Jefferies and RBC Capital.
- Jefferies upgraded the stock to Buy and lifted its price target to $360.
- Investors are looking ahead to IBM’s Jan. 28 earnings update for 2026 demand signals.
International Business Machines (IBM.N) shares rose 1.6% to $296.24 in afternoon trading on Monday, after Jefferies upgraded the stock and RBC Capital raised its price target. The shares traded between $293.00 and $299.18 on the day.
The upbeat calls land as Wall Street starts to reset 2026 expectations for enterprise software and spending on artificial intelligence tools. For IBM, the next test is whether its software and hybrid-cloud businesses can keep growing fast enough to justify a premium multiple.
Jefferies upgraded IBM to Buy from Hold and raised its price target — an analyst’s estimate of where a stock could trade over the next 12 months — to $360 from $300. The broker said it is repositioning its software coverage for 2026, arguing that infrastructure software should hold up better than application software early in the year. 1
Jefferies analyst Brent Thill wrote: “These moves strengthen IBM’s hybrid cloud and data platform capabilities, creating cross-sell opportunities and expanding its open-source monetization muscle.” 2
RBC Capital also lifted its price target on IBM to $350 from $300 and kept an Outperform rating, meaning it expects the stock to beat the broader market. The firm said enterprise spending appears to be stabilizing, with generative AI — systems that produce text, code or images — pushing more experimentation even as management teams stay cautious in early-2026 guidance. 3
IBM outperformed a broadly higher market on Monday. The S&P 500 proxy SPY rose about 0.8% and the Nasdaq proxy QQQ gained about 0.9%, while Oracle (ORCL.N) fell 1.0% and Adobe (ADBE.O) slipped 0.2%.
The analyst optimism also leans on IBM’s deal-led software push. IBM last month agreed to buy Confluent for $11 billion in cash, a transaction it said is expected to close by mid-2026, adding real-time data-streaming capabilities aimed at enterprise AI deployments. 4
From a chart perspective, IBM is still below its 52-week high of $324.90 and well above its 52-week low of $214.50, leaving the round-number $300 level in focus for short-term traders. 5
But the upside case depends on execution. If corporate IT budgets soften, or if AI projects fail to convert into repeatable software revenue, IBM’s software growth narrative could lose traction; regulatory delays or integration challenges around the Confluent deal would add another overhang.
Next up is IBM’s fourth-quarter earnings announcement, scheduled for Jan. 28 (preliminary date). Investors will be watching for 2026 demand commentary, software growth trends and any timeline updates on major integration work tied to pending acquisitions. 6
