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Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n AI and quantum computing<\/p>\n IBM’s AI business doesn’t generate a lot of headlines, but the company has quietly become a powerhouse in the industry by focusing on enterprise solutions. IBM has booked more than $7.5 billion worth of generative AI<\/a> business so far. The combination of consulting and software, as well as various strategic partnerships with other technology companies<\/a>, allows IBM to offer complete AI solutions that include integration and implementation services, and that use the third-party cloud platforms that enterprise clients have already embraced.<\/p>\n While there hasn’t been any meaningful news coming out of IBM’s AI business over the past month, the AI industry has seen a frenzy of major developments. OpenAI and Oracle struck an enormous AI computing deal, Nvidia announced a $100 billion investment in OpenAI, and the Stargate project signed agreements with memory chip manufacturers to supply gargantuan quantities of chips. For IBM, a rising tide lifts all AI boats.<\/p>\n Outside of AI, IBM and HSBC announced a significant breakthrough in the field of quantum computing<\/a> in September. HSBC used IBM’s quantum computers to demonstrate a meaningful improvement over classical computers for a specific computational problem related to bond trading. Quantum computing was paired with classical techniques to deliver a 34% improvement in predicting how likely a trade in the over-the-counter European bond market would be filled at a quoted price.<\/p>\n While large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers are still years away, IBM is making progress applying the technology to real-world use cases. IBM has already generated around $1 billion in bookings related to quantum computing, but the quantum computing industry could reach $198 billion by 2040, according to estimates from McKinsey.<\/p>\n Accelerating growth<\/p>\n IBM’s AI business is one reason why the company’s revenue growth is set to accelerate this year. IBM expects revenue adjusted for currency to grow by at least 5% in 2025. While this may not seem impressive, it’s important to remember that IBM is a sprawling company with a mix of legacy businesses and faster-growing businesses.<\/p>\n Another factor: Demand for discretionary tech projects is weak, given the state of the economy, which is offsetting some of the company’s AI and cloud-driven growth.<\/p>\n AI should continue to drive IBM’s revenue higher even if the hype around the technology starts to fizzle out. Since IBM focuses on enterprise AI solutions that cut costs or boost efficiency, often with small, specialized AI models<\/a>, the company isn’t dependent on frontier models improving dramatically. Beyond the next few years, quantum computing can start to have an impact as IBM pushes forward on its quantum roadmap.<\/p>\n With IBM expecting to generate at least $13.5 billion in free cash flow this year, the stock trades at a price-to-free cash flow ratio of about 20. While that’s certainly not bargain territory, the company’s long-term opportunities in AI and quantum computing justify the valuation.<\/p>\n Should you invest $1,000 in International Business Machines right now?<\/p>\n Before you buy stock in International Business Machines, consider this:<\/p>\n The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks<\/a> for investors to buy now\u2026 and International Business Machines wasn\u2019t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.<\/p>\n Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $626,942!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you\u2019d have $1,157,870!*<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s worth noting Stock Advisor\u2019s total average return is 1,063% \u2014 a market-crushing outperformance compared to 191% for the S&P 500. Don\u2019t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.<\/p>\n See the 10 stocks \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n *Stock Advisor returns as of September 29, 2025<\/p>\n HSBC Holdings is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Timothy Green<\/a> has positions in International Business Machines. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends International Business Machines, Nvidia, and Oracle. The Motley Fool recommends HSBC Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key Points A tailwind from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, along with an apparent breakthrough in quantum computing,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[191,2177,558,2174,2173,2176,2175,2178,21928,74,2180],"class_list":["post-202630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-computing","tag-computing","tag-futures","tag-ibm","tag-index-market-quote","tag-index-market-quotes","tag-index-market-symbol","tag-index-market-symbols","tag-indices","tag-intl-business-machines","tag-technology","tag-the-globe-and-mail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}