Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) sank in after-hours trading after the tech company reported its Q4 results. Earnings per share came in at $2.95, which beat analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.94 per share. Sales increased by 15.1% year-over-year, with revenue hitting $64.7 billion, also beating analysts’ expectations of $64.44 billion. However, it appears that cloud-related revenue spoiled things for investors.
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In fact, total cloud-related sales came in at $36.8 billion for the period compared to the $36.84 billion estimate. Breaking down the numbers further, Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud division, which includes Azure, made up $28.5 billion of the revenue after growing by 19%. In addition, Azure sales grew by 29% year-over-year compared to estimates of over 30%.
Investor Sentiment for MSFT Stock is Currently Negative
The sentiment among TipRanks investors is currently negative. Out of the 748,866 portfolios tracked by TipRanks, 17.6% hold MSFT stock. In addition, the average portfolio weighting allocated towards MSFT among those who do have a position is 12.21%. This suggests that investors of the company are very confident about its future.
However, in the last seven days, 0.9% of those holding the stock decreased their positions. As a result, the stock’s sentiment is below the sector average, as demonstrated in the following image:
What Is the Price Target for Microsoft?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 27 Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 25% rally in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $507.64 per share implies 21.43% upside potential. However, it’s worth noting that estimates will likely change following today’s earnings report.
