Shares of Microsoft Corp. MSFT,
increased 2.0% in morning trading, enough to boost the DJIA of the Dow Jones Industrial Average,
winners, after more analysts became more optimistic about the software and the cloud giant ahead of the fourth-quarter fiscal earnings slated for Wednesday. Raymond James’ Robert Majek raised his stock price target to $ 225 from $ 208, while maintaining the strong buy rating he has had for at least the past three years. Majek said the revenue exceeded expectations, given evidence of increased adoption of Office 365 and Azure’s cloud offering, as well as signs of “strong” consumer spending on games. Stifel Nicolaus’ Brad Reback raised his price target to $ 215 from $ 200 and reiterated his buy rating, which he has also had for at least the past three years. Reback believes that Microsoft will report “a healthy boost” to earnings and revenue expectations, and also cites the strength in Office 365, Azure and gaming offerings. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of $ 1.37 and revenue of $ 36.5 billion. No fewer than 14 analysts have raised Microsoft’s price target this month, with the average goal rising to $ 220.16 from $ 205.18 at the end of June. Of the 33 analysts surveyed by FactSet, 30 have the equivalent of purchase ratings and 3 have the equivalent of retention ratings. There are no bears. The stock has recovered 31.1% year-to-date, while the Dow has fallen 6.8%.
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