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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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It's IBM's Turn to Soar

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist

5/18/2007 7:10 AM EDT
Click here for more stories by Jim Cramer
 

IBM (IBM - commentary - Cramer's Take).



Yeah, I know. Who cares. You think of it like you think of Unisys or maybe CSC or EDS. Boring yet unpredictable. Always issuing press releases about important "breakthroughs" that mean nothing. Conscious that it has become some sort of inconsequential utility.

Think again. After vegetating for what seems like a decade, management has awoken and decided it must pick up the pace. At yesterday's meeting it talked about the possibility of growing mid-teens -- maybe 16%! As Laura Conigliaro at Goldman notes, even if it does 13% to 14%, that's still 10% to 12% above targeted growth.

And the darned stock sells at 15 times earnings.

Meanwhile, its buyback soaks up 10% to 15% of the volume each day and it wants to accelerate that. A nice dividend boost punctuates the newfound shareholder friendliness.

People are looking for new tech names. They can't find them. They are disappointed with so many others. Suddenly a new one appears, one that, while up 10 pretty quick points, has done nothing for years. Now they have it.

I see this stock easily headed to $125, giving it a multiple that's just a slight premium to the Dow.

Remember, not that long ago 3M was a mid-70s stock. Verizon was a $35 stock. Dupont was mired in the low 40s. Honeywell in the mid 40s.

Now it is IBM's turn.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned.






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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. Click here to order Cramer's latest book, "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order his book, "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get his second book, "You Got Screwed!" and click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column by clicking here.

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