DiscoverGold
20 시간 전
Microsoft defended AI spending despite DeepSeek pressure
By: Schaeffer's Investment Research | January 30, 2025
• Microsoft Stock's Worst Day Since October
MSFT is down 6% to trade at $416.03 at last glance, pacing for its fourth daily loss in five and worst day since October, but a floor at $410 looks ready to contain this pullback. The tech giant beat top- and bottom-line estimates during its fiscal second quarter, but it also issued a dismal cloud growth outlook and defended increased spending on artificial intelligence (AI) despite DeepSeek pressure.
The equity attracted six price-target cuts in response, the worst from BMO to $500 from $510. The biggest loser on the Dow today, MSFT is also the second most-traded stock in the options pits with triple the intraday average volume. Most popular by far is the weekly 1/31 420-strike call, where positions are being opened.
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DiscoverGold
2 주 전
Microsoft Unveils CoreAI
By: TrendSpider | January 14, 2025
Key Takeaways:
• CoreAI Launch: Microsoft debuts CoreAI to drive AI advancements under Jay Parikh.
• Tool Integration: Enhances Azure, GitHub Copilot, and Visual Studio for developers.
• AI Leadership: Aims to lead AI innovation with customer-focused tools.
Microsoft Launches CoreAI Division to Advance AI Applications
On Monday, MSFT (Microsoft) CEO Satya Nadella announced the formation of CoreAI – Platform and Tools, a new engineering division aimed at redefining application development for the AI era. Led by Jay Parikh, formerly Vice President and Global Head of Engineering at Meta, the division consolidates teams from Microsoft’s Developer Division, AI Platform, and Office of the CTO. This initiative focuses on creating an integrated Copilot and AI stack that combines new UI/UX patterns, agent orchestration runtimes, and an observability layer for next-generation applications.
Nadella emphasized that technology’s rapid transformation will significantly redefine the application stack by 2025. “Thirty years of change is being compressed into three years,” he stated, highlighting the urgency and scale of innovation.
Strategic Goals and Integration
CoreAI aims to empower developers by tightly integrating with existing tools like Azure AI Foundry, GitHub Copilot, and Visual Studio Code, streamlining workflows and improving productivity. The division will also expand GitHub Copilot’s capabilities, creating a feedback loop between AI tools and development platforms.
Jay Parikh, working closely with Scott Guthrie (Cloud + AI) and other senior leaders, will drive the platform’s efficiency and performance. By unifying AI development efforts under the One Microsoft approach, the initiative reinforces Microsoft’s commitment to delivering innovative, customer-focused solutions, empowering both its first-party and third-party customers to be equipped to build and manage next-generation AI applications.
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DiscoverGold
DiscoverGold
3 주 전
Microsoft (MSFT) Announces Layoffs After Lackluster 2024
By: Schaeffer's Investment Research | January 9, 2025
• MSFT underperformed the Nasdaq last year
• The stock shed 8.9% in the last six months
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is eliminating jobs across departments, though the cuts will only affect 1% of employees. The tech giant said it's prioritizing high-performance talent after a lackluster 2024, with the stock rising only 12% compared to the Nasdaq Composite's (IXIC) gain of 29%. These layoffs are also modest against 2023, when the company let go of 10,000 workers.
MSFT shed 8.9% in the last six months, and kicked off January with a drop to its lowest level since late November. Resistance at the 40-day moving average has kept a tight lid on the shares, but a familiar floor at $410 looks ready keep any additional pullbacks in check.
In the options pits, Microsoft stock has been popular with call traders. This is per its 50-day call/put volume ratio of 2.10 over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) that ranks higher than 95% of readings from the past year.
Options may be an attractive choice for those eyeing the security, per MSFT's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 20% that sits in the 20th percentile of its annual range. This means options traders now anticipate lower-than-usual volatility expectations.
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Stock Guy777
1 월 전
Price target raise:
Stifel raised its price target on Microsoft shares to $515 from $475 with a buy rating, thefly.com reported.
According to the investment firm, after a rocky start to 2024 the enterprise software sector is closing the year on a stronger note.
The analyst attributed the improvement to multiple factors like modestly accelerating revenue growth, attractive midyear valuation multiples, early signs of AI monetization, declining interest rates, solid economic performance, and Microsoft’s "safe haven" status following the election, given its minimal exposure to tariffs or China-related risks.
Looking to 2025, Stifel expects management teams to adopt a more conservative approach in their Q1 guidance. But the firm expects MSFT's overall revenue growth rates to at least match those observed in the latter half of 2024.
UBS also raised its Microsoft price target, to $525 from $500, and affimed a buy rating.
The firm highlights that Azure's growth acceleration is likely to be more back-end loaded as new capacity becomes available in the second half of the year, according to a research note.
Although the CEO's reference to an "AI winter" is unsettling, UBS remains confident of Microsoft's position at the top tier of the customer and workload spectrum.
Stock Guy777
2 월 전
Microsoft’s biz dev boss on the big bets that could define the future of AI
For Microsoft head of business development, strategy and ventures Christopher Young, identifying the company’s next big thing is the name of the game. And at Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco on Monday, Young walked through some of the biggest AI opportunities he sees on the horizon, from robotics to healthcare to data center sustainability.
Embodied AI — basically, AI that is integrated into the physical world — is one important category on Young’s radar. Self-driving vehicles, for example, will be big for Microsoft, he explained — but not necessarily vehicles that transport people. It will be “a lot more about transportation of goods and services around,” he said, like long-haul trucking: “Just think about all the vehicles that operate in small warehouse contexts or even a shipyard.”
Young also highlighted the potential of humanoid robotics, citing Microsoft’s investment in companies like Figure (which is also a partner with Microsoft, in a collaboration that gives Figure access to Microsoft’s AI infrastructure and services). “It’ll be quite commonplace, particularly in categories of work where it’s very dangerous for people,” he said, citing work on offshore oil rigs, or oil drilling in Antarctica. “There are going to be a lot of different opportunities to bring new types of embodied technology into those kinds of categories,” Young said.
Sustainability is another area that Young predicted will be a big trend for Microsoft in 2025, particularly when it comes to delivering more efficiency for the data centers the company is building — including the cooling necessary to make sure infrastructure does not overheat, as well as making data centers more water-efficient. “We have a series of different methods we’re employing in our data centers, some of them we’ve been doing for a while, others are new,” he said. “We continue to work with our partners, like Nvidia, AMD, even the in-house silicon we’re building at Microsoft.”
As far as venture investments, there are a couple of key categories that Young thinks are important examples of where Microsoft is looking for AI growth. AI infrastructure is one where Microsoft “is making a lot of bets,” he said, including cybersecurity. Microsoft has invested in a company called Hidden Layer, which focuses on protecting AI models against being manipulated by third-party actors. Another is the need for data governance and compliance: “As we bring more AI capabilities into organizations, those AI agents, the copilots, are going to want to access information. You need better governance, you need identity capabilities.” Microsoft has invested in a number of companies in this space, he explained, including Reliance AI.
Lastly, Young cited the healthcare space as an exciting one for investment in AI – noting that Microsoft is investing in companies that use generative AI to look for natural remedies for certain ailments, like eczema, as well as using AI to assist pathologists and radiologists in cancer screening.
DiscoverGold
2 월 전
$MSFT has been in a prolonged compression, forming lower highs and higher lows. This type of setup often leads to a bullish expansion or a significant breakout...
By: Peter DiCarlo | December 1, 2024
• $MSFT has been in a prolonged compression, forming lower highs and higher lows.
This type of setup often leads to a bullish expansion or a significant breakout.
With the market showing strength and momentum heading into December, I anticipate Microsoft will follow suit and break out to the upside, aligning with the broader rally.
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Stock Guy777
2 월 전
Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have been a cornerstone of tech portfolios for many years now, and 2024 has done little to tarnish that reputation. The stock is up a solid 15% year-to-date, and while it's struggled to push past July's all-time high, there are several reasons for investors to be excited.
Chief among these is the fact that analysts are exceedingly bullish on the tech titan's prospects heading into 2025. With the stock trading in a narrowing range, we could soon be looking at a breakout. Its shares are currently less than a 10% move away from July's high, so let's jump in and see what could send them soaring past it in the coming weeks.
Microsoft's Fundamental Performance Continues to Impress
For starters, there's the company's impressive fundamental performance. Microsoft has consistently beaten analyst expectations for its earnings for over two years, with this trend continuing with its most recent report at the end of last month. That report saw the company smash expectations for both headline numbers, with revenue growth standing out with a 16% year-on-year gain.
Investors should expect further gains heading into the rest of the year, as the holiday quarter historically tends to be Microsoft's strongest.
Bullish Analyst Updates Keep Microsoft in the Spotlight
Building on the fact that the internals are ticking over nicely, always a good starting point when considering a stock, is the fact that several analysts have been calling Microsoft a red-hot buy right. The teams at Royal Bank of Canada, UBS Group, and JPMorgan, to name just a few, have all reiterated their Buy ratings or equivalents in the past month alone. These updates echo a broader sentiment among analysts who have been consistently bullish on Microsoft throughout 2024.
Just last week, the Wedbush team doubled down on their bullish outlook for Microsoft, reiterating a Buy rating and a lofty $550 price target. From where the stock closed on Tuesday night, that's pointing to a targeted upside of nearly 30%. Needless to say, were Microsoft shares to hit that in the coming weeks, they'd be well above July's high and cruising into blue sky territory.
Potential Concerns: Analysts Reassess Microsoft Price Targets
While there is a lot of optimism about the stock, there are some notes of caution to consider. While maintaining their bullish ratings, some analysts have been reining in their price targets. For example, TD Cowen recently lowered theirs, citing higher capital expenditure forecasts. Still, the fact that they held off on doing a full downgrade from their Buy says enough about their confidence in the company's long-term prospects. Plus, even their revised $475 price target would have the stock trading at a fresh high.
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For further counterbalance, it's worth noting that Morgan Stanley did the opposite with their price target on Microsoft shares and actually boosted it following last month's report.
Microsoft’s Technical Setup Suggests December Gains Are Likely
From a technical perspective, there's a lot to like as well. After months of steady consolidation and mostly sideways price action, the stock is now setting higher lows, a key indicator of building momentum.
Strengthening this thesis is the fact that Microsoft's MACD is on the verge of a bullish crossover, while its Relative Strength Index (RSI) is just 57. For context, the RSI is a popular technical indicator that measures the speed and magnitude of a stock's recent price changes to assess whether it is overbought or oversold. It runs on a scale of 0 to 100, with readings above 70 indicating overbought conditions and below 30 signaling oversold conditions. At 57, Microsoft's RSI suggests that momentum is firmly on the bull's side, and the stock has a lot of room to run before it could even be considered.
With the Fed cutting interest rates and broader indices like the S&P 500 currently at record levels, the macro environment also adds to the sense that a breakout to the north could be on the cards.
Investors should look for the stock to continue setting higher lows into December, with a move above $440 all but confirming the breakout has begun.
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