Scalper1 News
Software leader Microsoft ( MSFT ) is expected to return to revenue growth on a year-over-year basis in the March quarter, after posting declines for three straight quarters. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter earnings after the market close Thursday. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Microsoft to earn 64 cents a share, up 5% year over year, on sales of $22.09 billion, up 2%, in fiscal Q3. For the June quarter, Wall Street is modeling for Microsoft to earn 66 cents a share, up 10%, on sales of $23.04 billion, up 4%. Microsoft stock is trading just below its all-time high of 56.85, reached on Dec. 29. Microsoft was down a fraction, near 56, in midday trading on the stock market today . Investors are upbeat over Microsoft’s transition from desktop software to Internet cloud computing services. Raymond James analyst Michael Turits on Tuesday boosted his price target on Microsoft stock to 65 from 62 and maintained his strong buy rating. Turits based his price target hike on Microsoft’s prospects for revenue and earnings growth from its cloud computing businesses, including Azure, Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online. But he said that Microsoft will face near-term pressure from weak PC sales, which affects its Windows operating system business. “We view Microsoft as one of the few ‘hyperscale’ cloud vendors able to integrate infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) with a vast installed base of server/client software,” Turits said in a research report. On Monday, RBC Capital Markets analyst Ross MacMillan reiterated his outperform rating on Microsoft stock with a price target of 63. “We continue to believe that Microsoft will see acceleration in revenue, EPS and (cash flow from operations) over coming quarters, driven by the diminishing drag of the cloud transition, strength in Azure and the potential for PC declines to moderate,” MacMillan said in a report. “As (foreign-exchange) headwinds diminish, we think underlying growth will come into view.” RELATED: Microsoft Stock Gets Price Target Hike From Build Conference News Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News