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Microsoft CorpMSFTTOP PICKMar 13, 2023Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 18, 2026. Market Open.
Not a value company, but has become a "utility" style company due large scale adoption of products. Very strong product suite with high margins. Excellent management team. 30x earnings per / share hard to justify, but strong dividend and excellent balance sheet. Would recommend holding, or buying on weakness.
Hit record high earlier today. Makes sense especially with exposure to AI space. Cloud business is growing, subscriptions keep the money flowing. Not cheap now at 33.5x, growing at 15x, 2x PEG. Forward price to sales a bit high at 11x.
In all the right spaces and doing the right things. Hold. Be careful adding, as tech did so well last year.
MSFT is expected to grow in the mid-teens on the top-line over the next few years and trades at a forward P/E of 30.9. It trades at a premium, as it shoulld. With that said, we think the bar is high for above-average share price growth at MSFT. They are very large, being scrutinized on acquisitons, not cheap and have had a strong run in the last year. We think it is a name an investor can still do fine with over the long-term, but we might not expect 'fireworks' here either.
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IBM lacks the spread of clientele like MSFT. Also, IBM has been getting rid of their hardware business, focusing more on software with AI. In terms of quality, MSFT is better (customer loyalty, Office Suite) while IBM is inferior, offering little growth. IBM isn't a big player moving forward. Among megatech, MSFT is the top.
It has fallen with the tech sector but not as much and is now at a good price. It has been an early investor in AI and signs are that this is helping the BING search engine and search engines are one of the most profitable areas in the tech sector due to advertising. BING should gain market share in this field. Microsoft has been using franchises in Office and Windows to fuel investments in the Cloud and is one of the top two players in this field. It is integrating open AI right across the tech desk. He is looking for double digit revenue growth in the next three years along with buying back of shares and increasing the dividend. Buy 51, Hold 5 Sell 1
(Analysts’ price target is $290.41)