In the latest market close, IBM (IBM) reached $253.23, with a -1.02% movement compared to the previous day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 1.59% for the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.45%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.78%.

Shares of the technology and consulting company witnessed a gain of 11.9% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its loss of 4.81% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.23%.

The upcoming earnings release of IBM will be of great interest to investors. In that report, analysts expect IBM to post earnings of $1.44 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 14.29%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $14.44 billion, down 0.18% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.78 per share and revenue of $64.83 billion. These totals would mark changes of +4.36% and +3.31%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for IBM should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 2.04% upward. IBM currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that IBM has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.74 right now. This signifies a premium in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 15.09 for its industry.

Meanwhile, IBM's PEG ratio is currently 5.61. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Computer - Integrated Systems industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.67.

The Computer - Integrated Systems industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 137, positioning it in the bottom 46% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.

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International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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