Company Update: International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – IBM to snap up Salesforce partner for $200 million

[at American City Business Journals] – In the latest of several cloud-related acquisitions, IBM (IBM) said it plans to acquire San Francisco-based cloud consultancy Bluewolf. Neither company has disclosed financial terms of the deal, but Recode reported that IBM will pay $200 million for the company, a consulting firm specializing in integration of Salesforce’s (CRM) CRM into companies’ existing IT structures. Read more: With flurry of deals, IBM’s Watson is gearing up for big things in S.F The acquisition will merge Bluewolf into IBM’s Interactive Experience unit, described as a “hybrid consultancy and digital agency” that helps companies develop personalized customer experiences. Read more on this. International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) , valued at $145.53B, began trading this morning at $149.79. Looking at today’s market, IBM one day range is $149.36 to $153.10 and has traded between $116.90 and $176.30 over the past 12 months. IBM shares are currently priced at 11.00x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 7.55x forward p/e ratio. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $5.20 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.50%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 20 sell-side analysts are looking at $2.08 per share, which would be $0.83 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.87 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $13.49, which would be a $1.43 better than last year. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $18.25 Billion. If reported, that would be a 6.84% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Morgan Stanley upgraded IBM from Equal-Weight to Overweight (Feb 18, 2016). Previously, JMP Securities Initiated IBM at to Mkt Outperform. Given all the information above, we should disclose to readers that the average price target is $134.00, which is 10.54% below than it opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:IBM) Similar Articles: Company Update: International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – IBM Launches New Initiative to Help Communities Tackle Public Health Challenges Market Update: International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – Does IBM’s CEO Deserve Her $4.5 Million Bonus? Company Update: International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) – IBM Takes Watson Deeper Into Business Computing Field