** 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

BURDEN OF PROOF ON EXECUTION

** 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