Gold prices steady as traders assess Fed rate outlook after soft US data
Investing.com - BMO Capital has raised its price target on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to $550.00 from $485.00 while maintaining an Outperform rating on the stock. The tech giant, currently trading near its 52-week high of $506.78, commands a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion and trades at a P/E ratio of 38.35. According to InvestingPro analysis, the stock appears to be trading above its Fair Value.
The price target increase follows BMO Capital’s calls with cloud experts that provided feedback on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. The firm indicated that commentary on Azure was "incrementally positive" for the June quarter compared to the March quarter.
BMO Capital noted that consumption of Azure services remained "largely stable" during the period, with production workloads ramping up. The firm also observed that cloud transitions have been helped by "aggressive VMware pricing."
Despite the positive feedback, BMO Capital is maintaining its Azure growth estimates, which it says are in line with consensus forecasts for Microsoft’s fourth quarter.
The firm reiterated its Outperform rating on Microsoft stock alongside the price target increase from $485 to $550.
In other recent news, Microsoft announced it will release its fiscal year 2025 fourth-quarter financial results on July 30, 2025. Piper Sandler has raised its price target for Microsoft to $600, citing the company’s growing influence in the Infrastructure as a Service market, particularly with Azure. This comes as Piper Sandler noted increased spending intentions for Azure, marking four consecutive surveys with growth. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reiterated its Overweight rating with a $530 price target, highlighting Microsoft’s leadership in artificial intelligence and noting stable IT spending intentions among chief information officers.
Additionally, Microsoft has reportedly saved over $500 million in call centers by implementing artificial intelligence, which is also helping boost productivity in sales and software engineering. The company plans to lay off nearly 4% of its workforce as part of cost-control measures. In another development, Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI is facing challenges as OpenAI plans to release an open-weight AI model available through multiple cloud providers. This move may create tension between the two companies as they renegotiate their contract.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.