3 Reasons to Be Bullish on IBM

In our Motley Fool CAPS
community, an impressive 3,436 investors (out of more than 130,000
total) have shared their bullish or bearish opinions on Big Blue.
Poring through the detailed information packed in pitches and other
comments, I've dug up three of the top reasons why many members
consider IBM a good buy today:

1. Recession-resistant
Fellow technology leader Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA) is showing signs of falling behind the curve, and peer HP (NYSE: HPQ) has its own hidden weaknesses,
but IBM has stayed strong throughout the downturn. The company has
exceeded earnings guidance in the last five quarters, and in eight of
the last 10, and has never fallen below the Street consensus.

2. Increasing presence
IBM already competes in many aspects of the tech world, and it's pushing into new areas
in search of growth. A move into business analytics consulting will
complement its built-up analytics software presence, which competes
with those of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and SAP
(NYSE: SAP). It'll also position the company at the forefront of a new
wave of technology and processes to make businesses more efficient.

IBM also aims to jumpstart cloud computing's role in the business world, now that companies such as Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) have already made great strides in offering the new paradigm for services.

3. Lots o' cash
IBM's shift toward focusing on higher-margin software and services has kept the cash flowing
in by the truckload. It sits on cash and equivalents of nearly $13
billion, enabling IBM to easily make acquisitions and new investments where desired.              

Of course, there's a lot more devil in the details of these buy-side
opinions. That's what makes CAPS such a great resource to check and
balance your own analysis by examining the bullish and bearish sides to every stock. To see what the very best CAPS members are saying now about IBM, just click on over to Motley Fool CAPS and have a look. It's all free, and your opinion's welcome, too.

Further Foolishness:

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