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Apps & Software

Goldman Sachs Raises Microsoft Ahead Of Earnings (MSFT, INTC)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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We already noted some changes out of Goldman Sachs in the beverage sector this morning, but there is a more decisive call today on Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and that is after a recent estimate raise on Microsoft and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) estimates.. 

  • Goldman Sachs is raising Microsoft to the Americas Conviction Buy List ahead of its earnings announcement. 

Despite the problems seen with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) this week, Goldman Sachs notes that Microsoft is actually a defensive play in a tough macro economy. What is perhaps most interesting about this call in particular is that if you go back to October earnings out of Microsoft you will see that Goldman Sachs raised Microsoft to the Conviction Buy List right before earnings then.  We noted that analyst Sarah Friar must have known something, and the stock saw some upside after earnings. 

This is based on its ongoing momentum of its product cycle and its currency benefits.  Its strength in small and mid-sized business is also noted.  Interestingly enough, Goldman Sachs noted a boost from "stronger than expected PC unit growth" should generate some upside to the most lucrative PC software sales in 2008.  The note says there is 20% upside for it to reach their $40.00 target. Goldman Sachs has its fiscal 2008 (June) target at $1.82 EPS and fiscal 2009 (June) at $2.02 EPS.

Microsoft shares are trading up 1.1% in pre-market trading at $33.60.

Jon C. Ogg
January 17, 2008

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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