Stifel Nicolaus Maintains Buy on IBM

Stifel Nicolaus is out with its report today on IBM IBM, maintaining Buy. In a note to clients, Stifel Nicolaus writes, "IBM reports 2Q11 Monday 7/18. IBM is up 18.5% YTD, outperforming both the S&P (4.5%) and its large cap enterprise IT peers (2%). While attention has turned to the anniversary of the mainframe cycle and the health of the services unit, we have an upward bias to EPS in 2011 and 2012 given the strength of IBM's competitive position and the conservatism underlying guidance. Furthermore, we believe IBM will continue to benefit from sector rotation if the economic environment remains volatile." Stifel Nicolaus maintains a $187 PT on IBM. At the time of posting, shares of IBM were trading pre-market at $174.63, up 0.33% from Tuesday's close.