Bank of America stated on Monday that IBM's (IBM.US) proposed acquisition of Confluent (CFLT.US) at $31 per share aligns closely with the tech giant's existing cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy. Analyst Wamsi Mohan noted in a client report, "We believe this acquisition is consistent with IBM's AI strategic direction. Confluent, a real-time data streaming platform built on Apache Kafka, holds critical strategic value for enterprise clients deploying generative AI, real-time applications, and modern workloads."

Mohan further analyzed, "Confluent's technology can strengthen IBM's AI product portfolio, helping clients still reliant on legacy middleware tools modernize their architectures. If the deal closes as expected by mid-2026, Confluent is projected to contribute approximately $600 million in revenue to IBM between 2026 and 2027, potentially accelerating its software business growth by around 2 percentage points."

Currently, Mohan maintains a "Buy" rating on IBM with a $315 price target. He added that the acquisition would generate synergies across multiple business lines: enhancing containerized applications in the Red Hat segment, improving real-time streaming capabilities in mainframe operations, and increasing the commercial value of Instana and Turbonomic products while strengthening Kafka and Watson.x's data ecosystem advantages.