Is IBM a Value Stock or a Value Trap?
IBM's results weren't surprising, since it's repeatedly struggled to offset the slow growth of its legacy IT services, on-site software, and hardware businesses with its newer cloud-based businesses. Its stock lost about a quarter of its value and reinvested dividends only gave investors a total return of 3% -- compared to a total return of nearly 270% for the S&P 500 over the same timeframe. IBM certainly looks cheap at 10 times forward earnings with a hefty forward dividend yield of 5.5% -- but is it a value stock, or a value trap?
