07-21-2015, 01:24 PM
(07-21-2015, 11:34 AM)Roadmap2Retire Wrote: I have been critical of IBM in the past and I stand by it. Its a financial engineering company that has resorted to ballooning debt and buying back shares to prop up the EPS numbers. Revenue's been falling for 13 straight quarters, net income down, profit margin down, debt of $38B, dwindling cash reserves - down from $12B a couple of years ago to $8.8B this quarter.
I certainly can't deny any of that, but just to play devil's advocate....
IBM is still highly profitable and generates a ton of free cash. Yes, those numbers have been consistently declining, but it seems like IBM could keep the "financial engineering" up for a long time to come still, which could make it a lucrative dividend play even today. And if/when they do get revenues stabilized, or even increasing again, this might have been a unreal opportunity...
I'm going to take a much closer look at this one in the coming days...