HOW TO PLAY IT

At Armonk, New york’s IBm, spreading the gospel of diversity has been a priority during the tenure of chief executive Virginia rometty. she wasn’t dealt a pretty hand when she took the helm in 2012, but she has played many of her cards well, buying back stock and boosting the dividend. she’s also invested heavily in ibm’s strategic imperatives business, which includes analytics, cloud, mobile and security and accounts for nearly 50% of sales. The stock has a 3.6% dividend yield and is a bargain at 12 times next year’s earnings.