International Business Machines Corp Stock Price, News & Analysis

The IBM board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend increase to $1.64 per common share, payable on June 10, 2021, to stockholders recorded by May 10, 2021. This marks the 26th consecutive year of dividend increases, and IBM has consistently paid dividends since 1916. CEO Arvind Krishna highlighted the company's strong cash generation and commitment to returning capital to shareholders, emphasizing ongoing investments in hybrid cloud and AI technologies.

IBM Watson Health has unveiled its 2021 Fortune/IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals and 15 Top Health Systems award winners, highlighting top-performing hospitals in the U.S. This year’s rankings integrated community health contributions and equity measures alongside clinical outcomes and operational efficiency metrics. The evaluated hospitals demonstrated improved performance indicators, potentially saving over 79,000 lives and $10.1 billion in costs when applied to all Medicare inpatients. The assessments were based on publicly available data from various Medicare and health organizations.

IBM has partnered with HCL Technologies to enhance clients' threat management through a modernized security operation center platform. This collaboration utilizes IBM's Cloud Pak for Security to create a unified security system that integrates tools and processes across the threat lifecycle. HCL's Cybersecurity Fusion Centers will leverage this collaboration, improving security operations for clients globally.

The partnership aims to combat complex security challenges in hybrid cloud environments, driving better security outcomes for enterprises.

IBM is collaborating with Parle Products, India's largest biscuit brand, to leverage IBM Cloud for faster product market entry. This partnership aims to enhance Parle’s operational efficiencies, speed up innovation, and strengthen security amidst ongoing supply chain challenges. By migrating to a hybrid cloud setup and utilizing AI capabilities, Parle expects to improve productivity and streamline processes across various business functions. The initiative is anticipated to enhance Parle’s ability to respond to consumer demands, fostering business growth in India and beyond.

IBM has announced new capabilities for IBM Watson to help businesses develop trustworthy AI. Key features include new data privacy management tools, enhanced explainability for forecasting, and federated learning capabilities. This move addresses concerns from an IBM-commissioned survey indicating that 84% of AI professionals value transparency in AI data usage. As a leader in AI innovation, IBM continues to enhance its tools to help organizations meet compliance and mitigate risks associated with AI technologies.

Saudi Payments, supervised by the Saudi Central Bank, launched the 'sarie' instant payments system in collaboration with IBM and Mastercard. This initiative enhances Saudi Arabia's financial ecosystem, supporting all banks in the Kingdom. The system accommodates transactions up to SAR 20,000 (USD 5,300) and promotes financial inclusion under Saudi Vision 2030's goal of 70% non-cash transactions by 2030. IBM GBS led the project as the system integrator, marking a significant advance in digital payments innovation.

IPwe and IBM announced their collaboration to tokenize patents as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), aiming to create a new asset class for intellectual property. This initiative will enhance the liquidity, transparency, and commercialization of patents, facilitating transactions on a blockchain network. The IPwe Platform will support these NFTs, expected to be available commercially by Q4 2021. The tokenization process aims to assist organizations, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in leveraging their IP as collateral for funding.

IBM reported strong first-quarter 2021 earnings with significant growth in cloud services, driven by a rise in hybrid cloud platform adoption. The company's GAAP net income was $0.9 billion, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) stood at $1.06. IBM generated $4.9 billion in net cash from operations and reported a free cash flow of $1.5 billion. The cloud revenue soared 38%, reflecting increased client demand. Looking ahead, IBM anticipates full-year revenue growth and adjusted free cash flow of $11 billion to $12 billion in 2021, excluding certain cash impacts.