IBM Poised to Please

As is the usual, IBM observers are keeping their eyes trained on the company's services business, which represents more than half of its revenue. Analysts see signings ranging from $10 billion to $11 billion.

"We'll have to see what they say about orders in the services business," PNC's Gorman says. "In the past, that's been somewhat inconsistent."

"I think the biggest area in terms of revenue drivers is going to be on services -- and if they are able to get that turned around," Stice agrees. When the company last reported, contract and sales cycles had elongated in that last month of the second quarter, he says, accounting for some of the lack of revenue growth.

Toni Sacconaghi, who covers IBM for Bernstein Research, wrote that he expects services to stabilize after an uninspiring second quarter. "Publicly announced signings of $1.7 billion were notably better than Q2's $440 million," he wrote.

Beyond near-term stabilizing, however, some watchers see an eventual return to real growth in the company's critical services sector.

Bookings in the fourth quarter should improve "given benefits from push-outs of major deals and easier sequential compares," wrote UBS analyst Benjamin Reitzes in a recent note. However, short-term signings are still "an area of concern."

"IBM usually has a big fourth quarter, like most of these computer companies, so perhaps they are setting themselves up for a decent finish to the year," Gorman adds.