Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi shared his views on IBM and its first quarter earnings on CNBC's "Halftime Report" Wednesday.
On IBM's valuation: "It appears inexpensive on price-to-earnings, but I think, as you all noted, it does have net debt, and its cash flow is structurally weaker than its earnings," Sacconaghi said. "We think the cash flow has benefited from a number of one-time items like a lower tax rate and some sales of intellectual property, so the real, sort of, multiple is closer 16 or 17 times cash flow, which is simply too expensive for a company whose top line is structurally declining."
On IBM's financial results: "This is a company that overall is descaling. Revenue has been declining about 2 or 3 percent per year if you take out acquisitions and currency," he said. "And when a company descales, it's very, very difficult not to see profit pressure and that's really what we're seeing."
Sacconaghi is a senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, noted for his coverage of tech stocks. His picks have a 21.2 percent one-year average return with a 70 percent success rate, according to analyst ranking service TipRanks, placing him in the top 3 percent of all Wall Street analysts covering any industry.
He also discusses:
- Seasonality.
- IBM CFO Martin Schroeter's comments.
- Workforce and culture at IBM.
- IBM's guidance.
To watch the broadcast interview in its entirety, you must be a CNBC PRO subscriber.
