International Business Machines Corporation stock rose more than 4% in Tuesday’s premarket trading after President Donald Trump praised the company during a White House quantum technology event and JPMorgan upgraded the stock to Overweight. The stock outperformed a weak broader market, with Nasdaq futures falling 2.66% and S&P 500 futures down 1.30%. JPMorgan upgraded IBM to Overweight from Neutral and raised its price forecast to $291 from $270, citing confidence in the company’s artificial intelligence and software strategy.

Federal backing boosts IBM vision

Trump’s praise for Krishna follows a series of strategic moves by the administration to bolster America’s position in the global tech race. The Commerce Department recently moved to award roughly a total of $2 billion to quantum tech companies under the CHIPS and Science Act, including $1 billion for IBM to establish a quantum foundry in Albany, New York. IBM matched the federal funding with its own $1 billion investment. IBM also announced a $10 billion investment in quantum computing over five years, aiming to build the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029.

IBM joins OpenAI cyber program

Separately, IBM said Monday it joined OpenAI’s Daybreak Cyber Partner Program and launched a new AI-powered application security service to help enterprises detect and validate software vulnerabilities more quickly. The managed service uses OpenAI’s cyber capabilities to analyze code, prioritize high-risk flaws, and identify exploitable paths beyond traditional code scanning. The announcement builds on Project Lightwell, IBM’s $5 billion initiative with Red Hat to strengthen software supply chain security using frontier AI models.

Technical picture and earnings

Despite Tuesday’s premarket rally, IBM’s technical setup remains mixed. The stock is trading about 5.2% above its 50-day simple moving average of $250.84 and 3.8% above its 100-day average of $254.22. However, shares remain 4.8% below the 20-day moving average of $277.23 and 3.5% below the 200-day moving average of $273.49. Key resistance stands near $310, while major support sits around $212.50. IBM is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings on July 22. Wall Street expects earnings of $3.00 per share on revenue of $17.85 billion.

International Business Machines Corp. shares fell during Thursday trading after sector peer Accenture plc lowered its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance, triggering a broader selloff across the information technology services market. The decline in IBM stock reflects investor concerns regarding demand trends within the IT services sector following the revision by a major industry peer.

Accenture altered its fiscal 2026 financial guidance before the market opened on Thursday. The company narrowed its full-year sales guidance to a range of $71.763 billion to $72.460 billion, down from the previous range of $71.763 billion to $73.157 billion. Wall Street analysts maintain an annual revenue estimate of $74.006 billion. Concurrently, Accenture raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $13.65 to $13.90, compared to the analyst estimate of $13.85.

Accenture Third-Quarter Metrics

For the fiscal third quarter, Accenture posted diluted earnings per share of $3.80, exceeding analyst predictions of $3.69. Quarterly revenue reached $18.700 billion, missing the consensus Wall Street estimate of $18.745 billion.

Accenture Chair and CEO Julie Sweet commented on the results, noting broad-based revenue growth and a 9% increase in EPS. She highlighted 104 quarterly client bookings of $100 million or more year-to-date, up 13%, and mentioned the company's agreement to acquire a majority stake in Dragos and all of runZero and NetRise to expand its addressable market in OT Security.

IBM Upcoming Earnings

IBM intends to release its second-quarter financial results on July 22. Market analysts forecast quarterly earnings per share of $3 alongside revenue expectations of $17.85 billion. During its preceding first-quarter earnings announcement on April 22, IBM reported an EPS of $1.91, which topped consensus estimates of $1.81 by 0.06%. First-quarter revenue concluded at $15.92 billion, beating the $15.66 billion estimate. The corporation has surpassed consensus EPS expectations for eight consecutive quarters. IBM shares were trading at $251.01, down 4.32% during premarket trading on Thursday.