Microsoft up 8% as FQ3 results top estimates on cloud resilience; Analysts raise numbers

(Updated - April 26, 2023 5:23 AM EDT)

Investing.com - Microsoft reported Tuesday third-quarter results that beat consensus estimates as its cloud business underpinned performance, shrugging off fears that slowing consumer spending would weigh on growth.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares trade 7.5% higher in pre-market trade following the report.

The company announced EPS of $2.45 on revenue of $52.9 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $2.24 on revenue of $51.12B.

Revenue in the company’s productivity and business processes was up 7% to $17.00B and its intelligent cloud business, which includes cloud business Azure, rose 18% to $21.51B.

Azure grew 31% in the quarter despite fears that a weaker customer backdrop would weigh on growth.

More Personal Computing, which includes sales of Windows to third-party PC makers, fell 19% to $14.24B.

Microsoft is up about 15% so far this year, riding on investor optimism about its lead in the Artificial Intelligence, or AI, race following a multi-billion dollar investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

Analysts highlighted strength in the company’s cloud business and raised targets on the stock.

Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan lifted the PT to $330 per share after witnessing "impressive" results.

"Microsoft generates its own gravity, shrugging off macro concerns and handily topping 3Q23 revenue and EPS estimates... MSFT continues to look attractive to us at 24.8x FY24E P/E, in line with its 5- yr median valuation but below 34.0x peak. Our updated DCF on raised numbers supports $330 PT. Microsoft's already one of three dominant hyperscalers (with Amazon and Google) in the expanding $200B Cloud industry and a core AI holding."

JPMorgan analyst Mark Murphy also hiked the price target as he went to $315 per share after a "resilient" FQ3 report.

"While short-term stock movements are notoriously difficult to predict, our call has been to own Microsoft shares for category leadership in generative AI, which has the potential to increase the value proposition pervasively across the Microsoft stack. Aligning with our view, AI was mentioned 50 times during the earnings call and is clearly driving a reassessment of Microsoft’s value prop and differentiation," Murphy wrote in a note.

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