Technology

Microsoft May Move Ahead of Alphabet as Second Most Valuable Company

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: January 27, 2017 6:50 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 3:27 pm

When Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was left for dead five years ago, it was unimaginable that it could be ranked among America’s most successful companies as it had been for the two decades of Windows’ dominance. Now, with its success in cloud computing and the engines of several of its older businesses, Microsoft threatens to pass Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), the owner of Google, in market cap, as the search company struggles to find new large and fast-growing businesses.

Microsoft has come close to doing what was once impossible: becoming the second most valuable public company in America, trailing only Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). After earnings, Alphabet’s stock sold down so that its market cap is about $565 billion. Microsoft’s rose to $515 billion.

Microsoft’s earnings, matched against Alphabet’s, show the extent to which CEO Satya Nadella has transformed the company. Microsoft’s Productivity and Businesses division had revenue of $7.3 billion. The division has both the consumer and business sides of the old Windows business. The Intelligent Cloud division is Microsoft’s huge cloud intuitive, which is large enough to threaten industry leader Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Its revenue was $6.9 billion. More Personal Computing, the third division, had revenue of $11.8 billion. It has the legacy game segment, search and Microsoft OEM.

Google, on the other hand, continues to rely almost completely on search, which makes it the one-legged stool that creates investor anxiety. Google ad revenue was $19.1 billion of the fourth quarter total of $21.2 billion. And the aggregate cost per click, one of Google’s most important metrics, fell 9% year over year. Its revenue from what it calls “other bets” was a mere $262 million.

As investors look for stability with large tech companies, which currently trade at historically high levels, they can only find it in public corporations that successfully operate multiple businesses. Microsoft’s shares have risen 23% in the past year, about the same as the Nasdaq, and Alphabet’s by 14%. This does not take into account stock movements after earnings announcements. At the rate of growth in stock prices, Microsoft will be the more valuable of the two companies by mid-year.