Why Microsoft Shares Are Moving Higher Wednesday

Microsoft Corp MSFT shares are trading higher after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Several analysts raised price targets on the stock following the print.

What Happened: Microsoft said third-quarter revenue increased 7% year-over-year to $52.9 billion. The company’s top-line results beat consensus estimates of $51.02 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.

Productivity and Business Processes revenue was up 13%, Intelligent Cloud revenue was up 16% year-over-year, while Personal Computing revenue decreased 9%. 

Microsoft reported quarterly earnings of $2.45 per share, which beat estimates of $2.23 per share and was up 10% year-over-year.

"The world’s most advanced AI models are coming together with the world’s most universal user interface - natural language - to create a new era of computing," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.

"Across the Microsoft Cloud, we are the platform of choice to help customers get the most value out of their digital spend and innovate for this next generation of AI."

On the conference call following the report, Microsoft said it sees fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $54.85 billion to $55.85 billion versus estimates of $54.84 billion. Intelligent Cloud revenue is expected to be between $23.6 billion and $23.9 billion and Personal Computing revenue is expected to be in a range of $13.35 billion to $13.75 billion. 

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Analyst Assessment: 

• Jefferies analyst Brent Thill raised the price target from $325 to $350.
• Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow raised the price target from $310 to $336.
• JP Morgan analyst Mark Murphy raised the price target from $305 to $315.
• Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin raised the price target from $320 to $345.
• Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan raised the price target from $310 to $330.
• BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman raised the price target from $325 to $347.
• Credit Suisse analyst Sami Badri raised the price target from $285 to $350.
• Citigroup analyst Tyler Radke raised the price target from $332 to $340.
• Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised the price target from $315 to $325.

See Also: Microsoft Gets Price Target Bumps By Analysts After Strong Q3 Results

MSFT Price Action: Microsoft shares were up 7.9% at $297.10 at time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Microsoft.