Shares of IBM (IBM) are on the rise after Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz upgraded the stock two notches to Overweight, a buy-equivalent rating, as he believes the company could be entering a period of top-line stability and maybe even modest growth over the next 12 to 18 months.

BUY IBM: In a research note to investors this morning, Barclays' Moskowitz double upgraded IBM to Overweight from Underweight and raised his price target on the shares to $192 from $133. Moskowitz believes the technology giant could be entering a period of top-line stability and maybe even modest growth over the next year to year and a half. Furthermore, the analyst argued that IBM could emerge over time as the next important cloud vendor after Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft's (MSFT) Azure. There may be room for another cloud player and the "narrative can favorably shift" for shares of IBM, he contended. Additionally, Moskowitz told investors he believes the storage growth revival continues and the server market could benefit from recent security scares. The Intel-led (INTC) security issues present a great opportunity for alternatives like IBM's Power architecture, he argued.

OTHERS TO WATCH: This morning, Barclays' Moskowitz also upgraded Pure Storage (PSTG) to Overweight from Equal Weight on fundamentals, while downgrading HP Inc. (HPQ) to Equal Weight from Overweight as he believes the story has played out. The analyst also cut his rating for Presidio (PSDO) to Equal Weight on tax reform implications and downgraded Juniper Networks (JNPR) to Underweight from Equal Weight due to a lack of a service provider rebound in 2018 and the rising threat from Arista Networks (ANET) in routing.

PRICE ACTION: In late morning trading, shares of IBM have gained about 2.5% to $167.94.