Last month, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) rejected Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), and the company has now officially appealed the CMA’s ruling. The appeal has been filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
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The CMA blocked the merger last month on the grounds that the deal would give Microsoft entire control over the whole market for cloud gaming services.
It is worth highlighting that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust lawsuit in December in an attempt to block the deal. The trial is scheduled to start in August. Meanwhile, the companies have been successful in obtaining approvals in key jurisdictions, including the European Union and China.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Wall Street’s Strong Buy consensus rating for Microsoft stock is based on 25 Buys and three Holds. The average stock price target of $291.10 suggests about 18% upside potential from current levels. Shares have declined 26.5% year-to-date.
As per TipRanks data, the most accurate analyst for Microsoft is Wolfe Research analyst Alex Zukin. Copying the analyst’s trades on this stock and holding each position for one year could result in 97% of your transactions generating a profit, with an average return of 33.17% per trade. Importantly, the analyst reaffirmed his Buy rating on MSFT stock about 29 days ago.
