IBM’s revenue miss and HashiCorp acquisition are weighing on the blue-chip stock
IBM Corp (NYSE:IBM) is at the bottom of the Dow today, last seen down 8.7% to trade at $167.95. There’s a lot to unpack from Big Blue’s quarterly report; first-quarter earnings topped estimates, but revenue fell short. The tech titan cited foreign exchange as a headwind for the rest of 2024, and agreed to buy cloud company HashiCorp (HCP) for $6.4 billion, or $35 per share.
At least four price-target cuts followed, the worst coming from J.P. Morgan Securities to $185 from $190. Wedbush, meanwhile, hiked its price target to $160 from $140.
This is shaping up to be IBM’s worst single-session decline since October 2021. The shares are now testing their 160-day moving average, and barely clinging to their year-to-date breakeven level. Year over year, the tech stock remains up 33%.
There’s a call bias amongst options traders today. At last check, over 28,000 calls have changed hands, compared to 18,000 puts, with total volume running at seven times the average intraday amount. The May 187.50 call is seeing notable sell-to-open activity, while the weekly 4/26 170-strike call is also popular.