Nomura Securities analyst Rick Sherlund reiterated a Buy rating and $45 price target on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) following data that Global PC units shipments in Q1 were estimated to be down 1.7% according to Gartner, while IDC estimates shipments were down about 4.4%.

Sherlund said, "This is a bit better than the decline of 5% to 6% that was expected, but directionally consistent with expectations for declining Windows OEM revenues for Microsoft. The conclusion continues to be one of PC demand being less bad relative to expectations, so not good news, just not as bad as expectations and results from a year ago. The most recent full-year 2014 estimates from Gartner and IDC call for PC units to be down 1.5% and 6.0%, respectively. Commercial PC demand was the driver of growth again in Q1. We suspect the year will look a lot like Q1."

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Shares of Microsoft closed at $40.47 yesterday.