Between 1978 and 2012, IBM stock delivered returns of at least 12% during every ten-year or greater time frame except for the 1998-2008 and 1999-2009 measuring periods. Up until the past decade or so, it was “the” tech stock. It was the company in the tech industry that survived every change and found itself in the taxable accounts, retirement accounts, trust funds, and charitable accounts of even the most conservative of equity investors. “Big Blue” had survived a century, putting a together a track record of 14.5% annual returns from 1945 until 2012. We are talking about real multi-generational wealth here.

As those same investors know, IBM has been struggling competitively since 2012, as net profits have declined from $16 billion to $12 billion. The blow has been softened somewhat due to IBM repurchasing almost 300 million of its then-existing 1.1 billion shares outstanding in 2012 to bring the total … Read the rest of this article!