By Ghazal Ahmed
Publication Date: 2025-12-11 13:36:00
International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) is one of the Hot AI Stocks on Wall Street’s Radar. On December 9, Stifel analyst David Grossman raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $325 from $295 and kept a “Buy” rating on the shares.
The rating affirmation follows IBM’s announcement that it has acquired Confluent for $11 bn, expanding its AI platform and aligning with its hybrid cloud strategy.
“IBM announced the acquisition of Confluent for $11bn (all cash), or ~7x CY27 EV/revenue, in-line with software comps with a similar growth profile (5–9x) and a 34% premium to Friday’s close (12/05/25). Expected close mid-2026, coincidentally the anniversary of the z17 mainframe launch (similar revenue profile).”
The firm noted how CFLT runs the Apache Kafka open source data streaming platform, serving as the standard for real-time data transportation connection. While the company has penetrated 40% of Fortune 500 companies, less than 5% of…
