IBM Stock Surges 159% Under CEO Krishna Boosted by Quantum Breakthroughs

Since Arvind Krishna became CEO in April 2020, IBM's stock has surged 159%, driven by a focused strategy on hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). A notable recent boost came from IBM's quantum computing partnership with HSBC, which improved bond trading predictions by 34%, sparking a 5% rise in IBM shares. IBM's strong second-quarter 2025 results included an 8% year-over-year revenue increase to $17 billion and a 20% rise in net income, prompting the company to raise its profit and cash flow outlook. IBM's AI platform, Watsonx, saw orders jump from $2 billion to $7.5 billion in one year, signaling a significant transformation into a major enterprise AI player. The company is investing heavily in next-generation technologies, including a $150 billion commitment over five years to U.S. manufacturing and R&D focused on quantum computing and mainframes. Despite competition from cloud giants like Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure, IBM's valuation remains attractive, with mixed analyst ratings and a median price target around $280.