IBM (IBM) Slightly Lower Ahead of Tonight's Q3 Results

IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) shares are trading moderately lower ahead of its third quarter earnings report, expected out just after the market close today. The stock is down ~1% to $127.15.

Analysts currently expect IBM to report quarterly EPS of $2.38 on revenue of $23.40 billion.

Last quarter, IBM beat the street view by $0.30 and raised their FY09 outlook. The stock is up 19% since reporting the second quarter results.

According to data from Bloomberg, 16 analysts have Buy ratings on IBM and 9 have Holds. Analysts have an average price target of $130.73, according to Bloomberg.

Barclays recently raised their price target on IBM, from $119 to $140.

Goldman Sachs' analyst said this week's strong results from Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) may have positive implications for IBM. They also note, "IBM should see a small amount of revenue and EPS upside driven by improved hardware sales and another solid services quarter. In the near term, we think that investors will continue favor companies that have greater topline growth and operating leverage over those with greater earnings resiliency, such as IBM." That said, they rate the stock Neutral.

Deutsche Bank said the weakening US dollar is translating into a substantial tailwind for IBM.

IBM will issue its Q309 results via press release at approximately 4:00 PM
(EDT) on October 15, 2009. The company's conference call will be at 4:30PM ET and prepared remarks will be available 45 minutes after the start of the presentation on the company's website . Stay tuned to StreetInsider.comcom's Earnings section to see our analysis of the highly-anticipated quarterly results within seconds of their release.

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