Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock rose more than 3% in premarket trading Thursday after the technology giant reported better-than-expected quarterly results and issued an upbeat revenue forecast, supported by strong cloud and artificial intelligence demand.
The gains came despite broader market weakness. 32%.
Analysts remained largely bullish on Microsoft, citing accelerating Azure growth, resilient enterprise software demand and the company’s ability to fund massive AI investments. 70 billion.
72. 66 billion consensus estimate.
Microsoft also expects quarterly capital expenditures to surpass $50 billion. 2 billion, highlighting continued demand for cloud and AI infrastructure.
A. Davidson Managing Director Gil Luria told CNBC that he slightly favored Microsoft over Alphabet Inc.
com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Luria expected Azure growth to accelerate and highlighted Microsoft’s strong free cash flow, which could help finance AI investments without additional borrowing or equity issuance. Jefferies analyst Brent Thill said following the results that accelerating Azure and Microsoft 365 growth, strong remaining performance obligations and lower-than-expected capital spending supported his bullish outlook.
Thill said Microsoft’s next challenge is controlling AI infrastructure spending while maintaining growth. He also pointed to resilient operating margins and early-stage enterprise AI adoption.
Munster Flags Long-Term Software Risks Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster told CNBC that Microsoft’s software growth accelerated to 17% in September from 14% in June. However, Munster questioned whether that pace could continue as AI reshapes demand for knowledge-work software.
He also noted that capacity constraints limited Azure’s growth potential, reinforcing the need for continued infrastructure investment. 08.
Piper Sandler maintained an Overweight rating and raised its price forecast to $650 on Oct. 29.
Truist Securities maintained a Buy rating and raised its price forecast to $600 on Oct. 26, while Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating and increased its price forecast to $625 on Oct.
26. 44 during premarket trading on Thursday.
72, according to Benzinga Pro data.
