Technology

What to Expect When Microsoft Reports After the Close

Chris Lange

Published: October 23, 2019 11:15 am

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 2:14 pm

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is set to report its most recent quarterly results after the markets close on Wednesday. Consensus estimates call for $1.24 in earnings per share (EPS) and $32.23 billion in revenue for the fiscal third quarter. The fiscal first quarter of last year reportedly had $1.14 in EPS and $29.1 billion in revenue.

The company kept up with its pace of dividend hikes with an 11% increase in its payout last month. On September 18, the software and cloud giant hiked the quarterly dividend to $0.51 per share from a prior $0.46. This was one of 11 dividend hikes in September too large to ignore,

This most recent quarter concluded a record year for Microsoft as a result of deep partnerships with leading companies in every industry. In fact, Microsoft joined a very small trillion-dollar market cap club this year and is one of the top three Dow Jones industrial average stocks in 2019.

In the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft reported its segments as follows:

• Productivity and Business Processes revenue was $11.0 billion and increased 14% year over year (up 17% in constant currency).
• Intelligent Cloud revenue was $11.4 billion and increased by 19% (up 21% in constant currency).
• More Personal Computing revenue was $11.3 billion and increased 4% (up 6% in constant currency).

Microsoft has outperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 34.3% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the stock is actually up about 25.5%.

Here’s what a few analysts had to say about Microsoft ahead of the report:

• Morgan Stanley has a Buy rating and a $155 price target.
• Evercore ISI has a Buy rating with a $160 price target.
• Citigroup’s Hold rating comes with a $152 price target.
• RBC has an Outperform rating with a $160 target price.
• Credit Suisse rates it at Buy with a $155 target price.
• Nomura has a Buy rating with a $161 target price.
• Wedbush has a Buy rating and a $160 price target.
• Cleveland has a Buy rating.

Shares of Microsoft traded at $136.03 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $93.96 to $142.37. The consensus price target is $129.25.

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