IBM Plans to Invest $150 Billion. Time to Buy the Stock?

Group 1 - IBM plans to invest $150 billion over the next five years, with approximately $30 billion allocated to mainframe and quantum computing [1][3] - Despite investments, IBM has remained a slow-growth company, with Q1 revenue of $14.5 billion growing only 1% year over year [2][5] - The company has a significant debt burden of $63 billion against stockholders' equity of about $27 billion, which may limit its ability to take on more debt [8] Group 2 - The investment could be transformative, as IBM's capital expenditures were only $321 million in Q1 2025 and $1.1 billion in 2024 [3] - IBM's software segment grew revenue by 8%, but other segments experienced declines, indicating a need for overall business performance improvement [5] - The company holds about $17 billion in liquidity and expects to generate $13.5 billion in free cash flow in 2025, up from $12.7 billion in 2024 [6] Group 3 - More than $6.1 billion of free cash flow is allocated to fund dividends, which yield about 2.8%, significantly higher than the S&P 500's average [7] - The high P/E ratio of 41 may limit near-term growth unless there is significant improvement in business performance [5] - Investors are advised to hold IBM shares due to uncertainties surrounding funding for increased capital expenditures [9][10]