IBM Leans on AI, Acquisitions, and Partnerships to Drive Growth

Group 1 - IBM is recognized as one of the 13 top tech stocks that consistently pay dividends [1] - IBM's stock has increased nearly 38% year-to-date, reflecting positive market sentiment towards its AI strategy [2] - The company is focusing on acquisitions to enhance its AI capabilities, with Cognitus being a recent target that connects AI tools with enterprise resource planning systems [3] Group 2 - In Q3, IBM's software segment, which includes AI products, generated $7.2 billion in revenue, marking a 10% increase from the previous year [4] - The acquisition of Confluent is expected to significantly enhance IBM's real-time data capabilities, which is crucial for AI operations [5] - IBM has formed a partnership with AI startup Anthropic to integrate its AI models into IBM's software, expanding the tools available to customers [6]