Evercore adds Arista Networks, IBM to tactical outperform list ahead of earnings

Investing.com -- Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani has added both Arista Networks and IBM to the firm's tactical outperform list ahead of their respective first-quarter earnings reports, citing beat-and-raise setups for each company.

On IBM, which reports on April 22, Daryanani expects the company to deliver moderate upside against consensus revenue and EPS estimates of $15.6 billion and $1.81, respectively.

He flagged an attractive setup, noting that consensus revenue implies a 21% sequential decline, steeper than the mid-teens drop historically typical for the first quarter.

The earlier-than-expected close of the Confluent acquisition is expected to contribute modestly to software growth and prompt an upward revision to IBM's 2026 constant-currency revenue outlook. Evercore ISI expects constant-currency growth above 5% for the full year and software segment growth above 10%.

On Arista Networks, which reports May 5, Daryanani expects the company to beat consensus estimates of $2.61 billion in revenue and $0.81 in EPS, driven by stronger AI demand and sustained enterprise momentum.

Evercore ISI also expects Arista to guide second-quarter revenue above consensus of $2.78 billion and at minimum qualitatively raise its full-year target of roughly $11.25 billion.

The bank said Arista is seeing incremental wins at Anthropic and Google beyond its traditional customer base. Evercore ISI also highlighted the March launch of XPO as a potential accelerant as network clusters migrate from 800G to 1.6 terabit infrastructure.

Aggregate hyperscaler capital expenditure across the top five cloud providers is now approaching $700 billion in 2026, up roughly 65% year-on-year, Daryanani noted.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Micron surges 5.5% on blockbuster Anthropic AI deal ahead of earnings
• Edgewell stock surges on report of rejected takeover bid
• Accenture downgraded by TD Cowen on AI concerns