Microsoft Buys Softomotive To Boost Its Robotic Automation Offerings

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) said it bought Softomotive, a provider of robotic software to automate tasks, in a move to bolster its desktop automation offerings.

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Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. As part of the acquisition, Softomotive products, which are used by 9,000 global customers to help them automate business processes across desktop applications, will become part of Microsoft Power Automate.

“So anyone can build a bot and automate Windows-based tasks,” Microsoft’s VC Charles Lamanna, said in a blog post.

The combination of the two process automation solutions will also enable connectivity to many new apps and services including SAP and traditional green-screen terminal applications, he added.

Softomotive’s WinAutomation platform will be freely available to Microsoft’s Power Automate users. Today, over 350,000 organizations use Microsoft Power Automate every month to help boost their productivity.

Earlier this month, Microsoft said it signed an agreement to buy virtualized network software provider Metaswitch Networks to help boost its exposure to 5G and increase its offerings for the telecommunications industry. In April, it acquired Affirmed Networks, which focuses on cloud-native networking solutions for telecom operators and mobile carriers.

Shares in Microsoft have surged 35% in the past two months and were trading at $183.63 as of the close on Tuesday.

TipRanks data shows that overall Wall Street analysts are almost unanimously bullish on Microsoft’s stock. Twenty-one out of the 22 analysts have Buy ratings and 1 has a Hold rating adding up to a Strong Buy consensus.

In light of this year’s rally, the $198.89 average price target provides investors with a mere 8.3% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Microsoft stock analysis on TipRanks).