Microsoft (MSFT) / Bill Gates

[winston]

not vested

Why the Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Comeback Is Just Beginning

Microsoft stock is poised to benefit from its huge portion of the cloud trend

By Tom Taulli

The company has essentially gone all-in with its cloud efforts, such as integrating features among its products and engaging in aggressive M&A.

For example, the company has acquired MileIQ, Xamarin and SwiftKey to bolster its mobile footprint.

And more recently, MSFT has been acquiring companies in the Artificial Intelligence space. Some examples include Genee (AI-powered scheduling) and Maluuba (natural language processing).

Yet the $27 billion purchase for LinkedIn will perhaps be the most significant for Microsoft stock. With the deal, MSFT gets the global leader in professional online networks — there are over 467 million members — that should allow for powerful synergies with existing assets.

Already, the company has added LinkedIn services with the Dynamics CRM platform.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/03/micros ... NHqCvl96M8

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Could Be Gutted

MSFT stock is doing great, but governments want their fair share

By Dana Blankenhorn

In 2016, Microsoft reported paying about $3 billion in taxes, earning $19.751 billion before taxes and $16.798 billion after. That’s an effective rate of 15%.

The U.S. corporate tax rate, however, is 39.1%. The Trump Administration says it wants to drop that rate to the 15% Microsoft is currently paying, although the tax plan he offered in February did not include a 15% corporate rate.

And without the new border tax there may be no drop in the corporate rate at all. That sounds like a net tax increase to me.

If the rumblings from global tax authorities turns into a roar, it’s going to hit companies like Microsoft hard, and analysts aren’t factoring this into their calculations on future profits at all.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/04/micros ... Ob-jNKGOM8

[winston]

not vested

Is The Cloud Really Going To Help Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock?

Microsoft's cloud business, including its Azure platform, has driven MSFT stock to all-time highs. But the opportunity isn't as big as MSFT bulls suggest

By Vince Martin

I don’t see enough to move the earnings multiple from 12-14x to 20x+. Microsoft hasn’t grown earnings over the past few years, and the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn aside, isn’t driving all that much going forward.

Competition will be intense, the PC business is in secular decline, and Microsoft isn’t nearly as dominant as it used to be.

Obviously, that doesn’t imply that Microsoft is going to collapse, or that MSFT is going to zero. But the current valuation of Microsoft stock seems to focus only on the growth opportunities – and not on the revenue streams that will be impacted by that growth.

Microsoft may have better growth potential than it did 3-4 years ago. But it doesn’t have enough to keep Microsoft stock at current levels.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/04/cloud- ... PK6XdJ96M8

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Is Running Full Speed Ahead

Microsoft is on a hot streak and MSFT stock won't slow down anytime soon

By Chris Lau

Forward price-to-earnings ratio of 21 times

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/05/micros ... QkfRtJ96M8

[winston]

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Can Hit $80 Without Blinking

MSFT stock easily has 15% more upside as long as the cloud business continues to run on all cylinders

By Tom Taulli

Revenues climbed 7.6% to $22.1 billion, but that was well short of the consensus estimate for $23.62 billion.

MSFT stock is far from cheap at a price-to-earnings ratio of nearly 31.

Credit Suisse analyst Michael Nemeroff says that MSFT’s opportunity is still in the early phase. He predicts that revenues from the cloud business will grow at 50%+ through 2018 and that margins will continue to rise. This is why he has a price target of $80 per share on Microsoft stock.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/05/micros ... RFVZtJ96M8

[winston]

not vested

Best Growth Stocks for Retirement: Microsoft (MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a testament both to the resiliency of economic moats and to the difference a visionary CEO can make.

Former CEO Steve Ballmer was an unmitigated disaster. Under his watch, Microsoft was leapfrogged in mobile by both Apple and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL).

MSFT belatedly dumped a ton of money into struggling handset maker Nokia, only to eventually give up and take an $8 billion loss.

Meanwhile, PC sales went into long decline, which crimped sales of the Windows operating system.

I won’t even get into the debacle that was Windows 8.

Yet through it all, the company continued to grow, and revenues have nearly doubled over the past decade.

Then Satya Nadella came along as Ballmer’s replacement, threw Ballmer’s legacy out the window (pun intended) and redesigned Microsoft as a cloud services company that competes head-to-head with Amazon Web Services.

Under Nadella’s visionary leadership, Microsoft is now positioned to compete for another generation.

Personal and corporate computing needs have massively changed over the past 30 years, and MSFT has managed to stay relevant. That’s a growth stock you want to own in a retirement portfolio.

Source: Investor Place

[winston]

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Is Precariously Overbought

MSFT has three bold ambitions, but are they enough to justify the lofty valuation?

By Ryan Fuhrmann

The forward P/E of 24x prices in a number of years of above-market growth.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/06/micros ... TtaFmh96M8

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Is the Superior Console Play

MSFT stock did well this E3 ... and one of its component makers is an interesting gem, too

By Hilary Kramer

Source: Game Changers

http://investorplace.com/2017/06/micros ... UUkJGh96M8

[winston]

not vested

Is Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock an Unstoppable Behemoth?

MSFT stock should benefit from several big ideas

By Lawrence Meyers

MSFT has made Azure a lot more affordable, appealing to smaller enterprises by reducing its Window Server to run in 30GB. Meanwhile, large enterprises have selected Azure as the preferred choice. In the last quarter, Azure revenue increased by 93%.

Microsoft stock has a whopping $126 billion of cash on hand. It generates $25 billion of free cash flow, of which only a third is used to pay a dividend.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/06/micros ... UpCu2h96M8

[winston]

not vested

This Could Be the Best Growth and Income Stock in the S&P 500

By Michael Vodicka

Microsoft currently has more than $100 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

My prediction is that Microsoft will use its massive and growing cash position to reward investors with big-time dividend growth — potentially doubling its dividend once again within the next five years.

Despite this impressive sales and dividend growth, Microsoft looks cheap compared to other leading technology companies.

Its forward P/E ratio of 23 is a steep discount to Amazon’s 151, Netflix’s 148, Facebook’s 31 and Google’s 28.

Source: Street Authority

http://dailytradealert.com/2017/06/29/t ... he-sp-500/