Microsoft (MSFT) / Bill Gates

[winston]

not vested

Trade of the Day: Microsoft (MSFT)

Money continues to move back into the tech sector

By JOHN JAGERSON AND WADE HANSEN

Investors are likely to be looking for growth in the first quarter, and MSFT is positioned well from a technical and fundamental perspective.

The stock continues to bounce up off of support at $85, as more money is moving back into the tech sector.

Additionally, if the tax bill serves its purpose and companies increase capital investment, MSFT should benefit significantly.

Source: Sling Shot Trader

https://investorplace.com/2018/01/trade ... lDY8d-WaM8

[winston]

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IoT Stocks: Here’s Why Microsoft is a Great Bet

By: Christian Tharp, CMT

Bain & Co. estimates that the total market worth of Internet of Things by 2020 will be $470 billion.

Developers can create ready-to-use machine learning models in Azure IoT Edge to be used in different Internet of Things devices.

The company has a huge penetration in the Enterprise. Microsoft can sell its IoT, Cloud and productivity apps as a suite to big companies. Azure IoT Suite is a pay-as-you-go IoT-optimized PaaS that offers pre-configured templates for all the common scenarios faced by IoT developers.

Source: Tech Stock Sensei

http://techstocksensei.com/2018/01/iot- ... e-cortana/

[winston]

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Microsoft: A Tech Powerhouse That Will Hold In A Downturn

Feb. 5, 2018

by Gary Alexander

Summary

Microsoft's most recent Q2 results reveal a company that is reasserting its dominance and growing across all segments.

Most notably, Microsoft Azure grew 98% y/y in the quarter, much faster than AWS's growth rate of 44%, implying that Azure is continuing to grab share from the first-place leader.

With huge innovative potential and a head start in prioritizing AI/ML development, Microsoft remains a company with a huge growth platform and an easy path to a $1 trillion market cap.

With strong underlying fundamentals, Microsoft looks poised to ignore the current volatility and continue its rally into 2018.

Microsoft has a net cash balance of about $57 billion (with ~$143 billion of cash and ~$86 billion of debt) so its "ex-net cash" P/E is really on the order of 23x.

Source: Seeking Alpha

https://seekingalpha.com/article/414304 ... ngcom_feed

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft’s second-quarter revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a sliver although its earnings beat comfortably.

The company met its target of $20 billion in annualized commercial cloud revenue by 2018.

Driving the business was the productivity segment where LinkedIn, Office 365 and Dynamics 365 all contributed. Strengthening ARPUs suggest that the company is successfully transitioning to the SaaS model.

Also encouraging was the Intelligent Cloud business with particular strength in Azure.

Despite the seasonal strength in gaming, the Xbox One X launch and momentum around Xbox Live where a gaming-as-a-service platform seems to be in the making, the more personal computing segment didn’t do as well because of weakness in Windows.

Source: Zack's Research

[winston]

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This Blue Chip Stock is the Safe Way to Play Crypto AND Cannabis Right Now

by Michael A. Robinson

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has made blockchain technology a key part of its Azure cloud computing platform.

Gartner says blockchain technology created $4 billion in business value last year. The analysts there believe that figure will hit $21 billion by 2020 before rising to $176 billion in 2025 – and a staggering $3.1 trillion by 2030.

In the summer of 2016, Microsoft invested in Kind Financial, a maker of software that helps state and local governments track the cannabis business.

The key to the legal cannabis industry’s success will be found in its ability to adhere to local, state, and federal laws, and Microsoft’s software can play a crucial role.

Source: Money Morning

http://dailytradealert.com/2018/02/06/b ... right-now/

[winston]

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Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT): Money Morning Director of Technology & Venture Capital Research Michael Robinson is still positive on Microsoft six years after his 2012 recommendation.

There are plenty of reasons why investors who bought MSFT back then watched their money double twice since 2012. But it’s because the company offers “must-have” tech products for some of the biggest trending businesses that we can expect that kind of performance to continue.

You’re no doubt familiar with the tech giant’s many software products, but increasingly, its focus has been on the Azure cloud service. That investment is paying off, as Azure sales have grown by at least 90% in five straight quarters – including 98% in the most recent quarter.

And Azure will enjoy two major drivers of future growth: blockchain technology and legal marijuana.

Not just for cryptocurrencies, blockchain’s digital ledger of transactions that can be distributed but not copied is turning out to be extremely useful for businesses to improve their efficiency and digital security. And Microsoft’s Azure service has become a leading provider of blockchain solutions.

On top of that, Microsoft has established Azure as the go-to cloud software system for the legal marijuana industry. In an industry under tremendous scrutiny, any inconsistencies in accounting could mean big trouble for a marijuana-based business. Azure has been tailored especially to help these businesses keep their i’s dotted and t’s crossed.

“All that makes Microsoft a profitable investment in both mainstream business and bleeding-edge tech like blockchain and AI,” says Michael.

Source: Money Morning

[winston]

not vested

Don’t Worry About Record Highs, the Microsoft Stock Price Will Keep Climbing

1. Azure cloud
2. Legal cannabis
3. Cryptocurrency

Source: Tech Stock Sensei

http://techstocksensei.com/2018/03/micr ... dividends/

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation Stock Can Double Again

The growth story for MSFT stock isn’t stopping

By RICHARD BAND

In December, MSFT announced that some of its new Windows 10-driven laptop computers with have Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon chip inside so the laptops will operate off wireless mobile service as well as WiFi networks.

This would be a huge move if it works, since it allows to Microsoft to focus solely on developing its Windows platform rather than trying to make it work for mobile devices.

Azure, as its commercial cloud is called, continues to grow at an impressive pace. And it’s giving Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Web Services (AWS) a run for its money.

AWS is the biggest cloud provider in the world, but MSFT is gaining ground and creating more tempting offers for new clients.

Source: Profitable Investing

https://investorplace.com/2018/03/micro ... qnBFehuaM8

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is close to being immune from the problems that have driven Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) shares down.

While Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) may, like Facebook, have been a conduit for information that influenced the national election and tapped into user data, Microsoft major businesses do not have technology that can be similarly exploited.

Microsoft has become among the three or four leaders in cloud computing, which many consider as part of the core of global technology for the next several years.

It continues to maintain substantial positions in software used by both businesses and individuals.

As a software company, it is probably less vulnerable to tariffs than U.S. companies that make or sell physical products.

Source: 24/7 Wall Street

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft has now rebuilt the company around the cloud instead of Windows, and employees approve

Windows is a key part of Microsoft’s legacy, but it’s not what’s growing the most

Source: SCMP

http://www.scmp.com/tech/article/213962 ... -employees