By Proactive
Publication Date: 2026-04-20 19:56:00
International Business Machines Corp (NYSE:IBM) is set to report its first quarter earnings this week, with Jefferies analysts expecting steady growth overall and the potential upside driven by its software business.
The analysts believe IBM could exceed Wall Street expectations for software, where consensus forecasts call for roughly 11% year-over-year growth. That estimate represents a slowdown from the prior quarter, but the analysts argued the comparison period is relatively easy and may understate momentum.
Additional support could come from the earlier-than-anticipated closing of assets tied to Confluent, as well as conservative assumptions around Red Hat, which is modeled to grow about 10%.
Outside of software, trends appear more moderate. Infrastructure revenue is expected to increase around 8%, down from stronger…
