Microsoft Stock is awaiting the software giant’s fiscal Q2 report

Wall Street expects Microsoft’s sales and earnings growth to slow down when it reports December quarter results late Wednesday. But Microsoft (Msft) Equity analysts expect an improvement in March quarter with a reacceleration in his Azure Cloud Computing business.

Analysts examined by the facts expect the Microsoft earnings of $ 3.11 per year. Sales on sales of $ 68.9 billion in its fiscal second quarter. It would translate into growth from year to year at 6.1% in earnings and 11.1% in sales. It would also mark its slowest earnings growth in eight quarters and the slowest sales growth in six quarters.

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Analysts see Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Computing Infrastructure Business growing revenue of 30.2% years over the year in December quarter, down from 31.1% in the September neighborhood. On constant currency bassis, Azure income is seen increasing 32% against 34% in the September quarter.

However, for its fiscal third quarter, Microsoft’s Azure revenue is expected to increase 31.7% or 33.4% in constant currency. The Azure business needs to be helped by more data center capacity that is coming online, says analysts.

In March quarter, Wall Street models Microsoft earnings of $ 3.16 per year. Share, an increase of 7.5%, on a sale of $ 69.8 billion, an increase of 12.8%.

The Microsoft share has consolidated in the last 29 weeks with a purchase point of 468.35, according to IBD Marketsurge Charts. This purchase point is also its high time, reached on July 5th.

In the stock market today, the Microsoft share slid 0.6% to close at 444.06.

Microsoft Stock Sentiment rises

Sentiment in Microsoft Stock improves as it benefits from its investments in artificial intelligence in both cloud computing infrastructure and in software applications, Bofa Securities said analyst Brad Sills in a client note on Tuesday.

Sills has a purchase rating on the Microsoft share with a price target of 510.

“We expect Q2 results to create a better mood on the shares, considering a likely Q3 Azure view to speed up growth,” Sills said. “We also believe that the company is likely to raise the accounting vote 2025 margin views. Microsoft typically updates the margin’s prospects in the 2nd quarter.”

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill repeated his “Top Pick” purchase rating on the Microsoft share with a price target of 550 on Wednesday.

Microsoft has positioned itself as an “important recipient” of the generative AI -Megatrend thanks to his partnership with the Chatgpt creator Openai and its investments in data centers and copilot AI applications, Thill said in a client note.

“While we are in the early laps of AI adoption, we continue to be Bullish on Microsoft’s copilot’s ability to operate revenue in Calendar 2025 and over,” Thill said. “We emphasize that business recording continues to build when companies start going from pilots to mass developments.”

Traction evasive for copilot services

Other analysts are more careful with Microsoft and its prospects of making money at AI.

In a client note on Thursday, Guggenheim analyst John Difucci held his neutral assessment of Microsoft Stock.

Investors will hear more about traction for Microsoft’s Copilot AI services, which “have been evasive so far,” he said. The slow adoption of Copilot services was signaled by Microsoft’s move to bundle it with Microsoft 365 And raising prices instead of continuing to sell Office Copilot features as an add-on service, he said.

TD Cowen analyst Derrick Wood joined a report on Thursday.

“While the new approach is to help drive wider adoption, it signalizes that its original price/packaging strategy has struggled to get adoption and that it is likely to take more time for Genai to help bend the growth curve for M365,” said Wood. He assesses the Microsoft share as a purchase with a price target of 475.

Microsoft Stock is in the IBD long-time leader portfolio.

Follow Patrick Seitz on X, former Twitter, on @Ibd_pseitz For more stories of consumer technology, software and semiconductors.

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