BUZZ: Street View: IBM is feeling the blues
IBM•Analysts say execution will be key
** J.P. Morgan ("overweight," PT: $250) says investors will need to see evidence of better execution before underwriting a meaningful recovery
** Jefferies ("buy," PT: $260) believes it is more of a timing issue vs structural, "but the burden of proof is on Q3 execution"
** Barclays ("overweight," PT: $262) says "the timing and normalization of customer behavior away from AI infrastructure/ storage/ memory purchases is debatably an uncontrollable nuance to IBM's upside in 2H"
** Baird ("neutral," PT: $230) says lingering concerns over co's mainframe business are likely to weigh on the stock in the near term
IBM cuts forecast and misses Q2 estimates
** IBM IBM.N cut its annual revenue growth forecast and missed profit and revenue expectations for Q2 on Wednesday, days after warning that corporate spending was shifting toward AI-focused data center gear over its software and mainframe computers
** Shares marginally down premarket




