Why IBM (NYSE) may climb to $ 175 ?

• Cloud data center build outs accelerate.
• Apple partnership goes vertical and horizontal.
• Riding dividend ahead of rebound.
• IBM focusing on customers' core needs: cloud, mobile, social and big data solutions - delivered via secure pipelines.
• IBM's early cloud bets missed the mark, leaving the company far too dependent on traditional hardware, software and IT consulting. Revenues have been flat or have fallen for 11 consecutive quarters.
• The mid-2013 buyout of SoftLayer. Late to the game, but it finally giving IBM a credible cloud infrastructure platform.
• The mid-2014 partnership with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Late to the game, but it is about to open up more mobile application opportunities.
• Total cloud revenues of $7 billion for 2014, but that figure is a bit fuzzy at best, since it includes traditional hardware and software sales sold into hybrid environments.
• Total cloud revenues of $7 billion for 2014, but that figure is a bit fuzzy at best, since it includes traditional hardware and software sales sold into hybrid environments.
• Each time IBM opens a new data center footprint, it creates another repeatable, salable, recurring revenue engine in a new part of the world. That's good for IBM. And good for all those cloud-hungry CIOs that former CEO Palmisano badly underestimated in 2010
• The cloud business hasn't grown fast enough to offset traditional IBM hardware sales, which fell again in Q4 2014. But at some point, we're going to see CIOs normalize their spend across cloud and on-premises IT.
•