SoundView Financial Corp analyst Gary Helmig said he cut his rating on IBM Corp because revenue growth, particularly in North America, may become an issue on Wall Street after its first quarter earnings report last Wednesday: Helmig is going for around 4% growth for the quarter, and cut his short-term rating on the company to a hold from a buy, but he maintained his 1996 and 1997 earnings estimates. All of which did nothing for the IBM Corp share price, which also shivered on talk of mainframe pricing pressures and the strong dollar: it plunged $6.00 to $111.50 in heavy trading with over four million shares changing hands; analysts’ consensus estimates are for $2.40 a share, with a range of estimates from $2.16 to $2.60 a share.
