Microsoft (MSFT) / Bill Gates

[winston]

not vested

Owning This Stock Now Makes Plenty of Sense

By Richard Saintvilus

Based on current-year estimates, MSFT stock is priced at 21 times earnings, versus a price-to-earnings ratio of 18 for the S&P 500 index.

Some $121 billion in cash on the balance sheet

Source: Investor Place

http://dailytradealert.com/2017/07/17/o ... -of-sense/

[winston]

not vested

Tech Stocks to Buy: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)

Just for the record, software giant Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) wasn’t always a name that was safe to put in a retirement account.

During its Bill Gates and even its Steve Ballmer years, it was ever-reliant on the next big operating system or office-productivity software to spur the next round of sales growth.

The never-ending obsolescence/renewal cycle opens the door to competitors, and those other players did indeed capitalize on Microsoft’s often-needless upgrades and overhauls.

That’s not the MSFT of today though. CEO Satya Nadella is rebuilding the company from the ground up as one designed to drive constant recurring revenue.

Case in point: Rather than reissuing new Office software every other year and hoping you’ll buy it rather than alternatives, Microsoft now rents online access to things like Excel, Word and PowerPoint for a nominal monthly fee. This makes is far easier for Microsoft to keep users in the ecosystem.

The company is thinking along the same lines for its enterprise server customers too. Its new Azure Stack platform allows users to “pay as they go” rather than forcing an organization to pay a large sum upfront.

This software-as-a-service model also allows MSFT to ensure the client always has critical updates, leaving them no reason to even look for alternatives … the upgrades happen automatically.

The model is working too. Last quarter’s Office 365 revenue was up 45%, with the number of users growing to 26.2 million.

Its “Intelligent Cloud” revenue — a great deal of which is recurring — was up 11% to $6.8 billion, or about a fourth of the company’s revenue for the three-month stretch.

Recurring revenue is ideal for retirement accounts.

Source: Investor Place

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock: What’s Fueling This Year’s 19% Gain?

MSFT has a favorable mega-trend at its back now that it’s transitioned to cloud and subscription services

By Hilary Kramer

Source: Game Changers

http://investorplace.com/2017/07/micros ... X3ft4h96M8

[winston]

not vested

Should You Buy Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock? 3 Pros, 3 Cons

MSFT stock hasn't done anything following a strong earnings report

By Ian Bezek

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/08/should ... YPq24h96M8

[winston]

Don’t Buy Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock … Yet

MSFT stock looks expensive when you consider that it’s biggest growth prospect, Azure, makes up less than 10% of its business

By Laura Hoy

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/08/dont-b ... Y7F7FGg-M8

[winston]

not vested

3 Reasons Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Stock Should Be a Core Holding

By Tom Taulli

MSFT provides a fairly low-risk way to benefit from the cloud and AI

MSFT Stock Factor #1: The Cloud

As for Microsoft, the company is currently the No. 2 player in the market with 11% of the spending, behind Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), which has about 31%.

MSFT Stock Factor #2: Financials

During the past year, the operating cash flows came to a hefty $39.5 billion. In all, there is about $132.9 billion in the bank.

MSFT Stock Factor #3: Innovation

The company has offerings like Cortana (a digital AI assistant) and HoloLens (augmented reality). But the Azure platform is also important, as it has features like deep learning.

Source: Investor Place

http://investorplace.com/2017/08/3-reas ... Z-wrMgjGM8

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Dollar Amount of Shares Sold: $1,341,793,794.25
Number of Insider Stock Sales in the Last 180 Days: 9
Volume of Shares Sold: 19,087,549
Who Sold Shares: Christopher C Capossela (EVP), G Mason Morfit (Insider), Jean Philippe Courtois (Insider) and William H Gates III (Director)

Insider Trades by Quarter for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft Corporation logoMicrosoft Corporation is a technology company. The Company develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products, services and devices.

The Company's segments include Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing.

The Company's products include operating systems; cross-device productivity applications; server applications; business solution applications; desktop and server management tools; software development tools; video games, and training and certification of computer system integrators and developers.

It also designs, manufactures, and sells devices, including personal computers (PCs), tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, phones, other intelligent devices, and related accessories, that integrate with its cloud-based offerings.

It offers an array of services, including cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, services, platforms, and content, and it provides solution support and consulting services.

Source: Market Beat

[winston]

not vested

This Stock is Up 18% Year to Date And There’s Still Plenty of Upside Left Here

by Richard Band

Smart speakers is going to be a $13 billion market in the next 7 years, with over 100 million units sold.

Source: Investor Place

http://dailytradealert.com/2017/09/08/s ... side-left/

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) is a leading company in the Unstoppable Trend of technology.

The reality is that technology is here to stay; individuals and businesses across the world rely on it to function.

Microsoft is a well-managed company and is a leader in the tech industry. That means MSFT will bounce back after a downturn.

Microsoft is also constantly innovating to stay on top of the tech world. Businesses and individual consumers are increasingly relying on cloud storage to manage their daily lives.

And Microsoft’s new Azure cloud platform is poised to fend off its rivals by integrating Microsoft software, something CEO Satya Nadella calls “software as a service.”

So even if the market dives, Microsoft services are still going to be in demand. Its Azure cloud computing service is now the second-largest cloud service in the world.

MSFT trades at $73.53 a share and pays a 2.12% dividend yield. MSFT is up 18.28% on the year.

— Money Morning

[winston]

not vested

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Deal With Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) Is Good for Business

Cortana gets a boost from marriage with Alexa

By Richard Band

According to research firm Global Market Insights, smart speakers is going to be a $13 billion market in the next 7 years, with over 100 million units sold.

MSFT’s Azure cloud is the fastest-growing competitor to AMZN’s AWS (Amazon Web Services).

Source: Profitable Investing

https://investorplace.com/2017/09/micro ... b0iX8gjGM8