BofA Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan provides earnings preview ahead of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) second-quarter results release after market close on July 24. The analyst writes that IBM’s shares are up 12% year-to-date but have lagged behind the SPX index, which gained 18% over the past year. Since the F1Q earnings call, IBM’s shares have risen 8%. The analyst expects Software (RHT) and Consulting revenues to improve in the second half but sees some risk in the near future, given the weak macro. The Gen AI segment, with a $1 billion backlog, presents significant opportunities in consulting (75%) and software (25%), says the analyst. Mohan writes that challenges include a soft macroeconomic environment and profitability heavily weighted towards the fourth quarter, with tough comparisons ...