IBM (IBM) is scheduled to report results of its fiscal first quarter after the market close on April 17, with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm ET. What to watch for: 1. Q1 CONSENSUS HIGHER: Along with its last report, IBM guided for Q1 earnings per share of 17%-18% of its full year expectation of $13.80. At the time, analysts expected the company to report Q1 earnings of $2.28, but that figure has since risen to $2.41. 2. AMAZON PENTAGON DEAL: Bloomberg reported last week that Oracle (ORCL) is leading a “loose coalition of technology companies” that also includes Microsoft (MSFT), IBM, HP Enterprise (HPE) and Dell in a bid to prevent Amazon (AMZN) from being the sole-source provider on a multibillion-dollar deal expected to be awarded the the U.S. Department of Defense in coming months. The goal of the group of companies is to make sure the award process is opened up to more than one winner, the report said. 3. APPLE ML PARTNERSHIP: On March 20, Apple (AAPL) and IBM announced an expansion to their already existing partnership that will let customers roll out advanced in-app machine learning capabilities through Apple’s Core ML and IBM’s Watson technology. According to the Developer section on Apple’s website, Watson Services for Core ML will make it easier to build apps that access “powerful” Watson capabilities right from iPhone and iPad, so people can provide “dynamic, intelligent insights that improve over time.” 4. GARTNER PC SHIPMENTS: Last week, Gartner (IT) reported that global PC shipments totaled 61.7M units in the first quarter of 2018, a 1.4% decline from the same quarter of 2017. The PC market experienced a 14th consecutive quarter of decline, dating back to the second quarter of 2012, according to Gartner. 5. BERKSHIRE CUTS STAKE: In its Form 13F filed in mid-February, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) disclosed that it had reduced its stake in IBM by 94% to 2M shares in the final quarter of 2017.