Well, it's mostly factored into the price; IBM's mainframe division isn't that big a secret. But like most "blue chips", IBM is probably a reasonably solid inc

Well, it's mostly factored into the price; IBM's mainframe division isn't that big a secret. But like most "blue chips", IBM is probably a reasonably solid income stock. They have an obvious income stream (software licensing) with a locked-in market, in addition to their consulting/services divisions. Whether or not it's too much to pay for the income (compared to similar companies with license-based revenue models, i.e. Microsoft) is the question for a potential investor. I'm not sure anyone would regard it as a hot speculative play...