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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Microsoft stock tanks 9.25% on growth concerns

Many analysts slash price targets, cut buy ratings to hold

The Columbian
Published:

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft shares plunged 9.25 percent Tuesday after the software giant reported quarterly revenue that beat expectations but warned that a weak PC market and a strong dollar will curb growth this year. Many analysts slashed price targets on the stock and some cut their buy ratings to hold.

What are Wall Street’s main concerns?

Microsoft showed promising signs of growth in new businesses, such as cloud computing, but Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood forecast revenue for the current period that missed analysts’ expectations. Revenue for the quarter ending in March will be $21 billion if the company hits the midpoint of its own forecast. Analysts had forecast $23.8 billion, on average.

“The cloud transition remains on track, but lower numbers means a lower price target,” analyst Ross MacMillan of RBC Capital Markets wrote to clients.

Last year, Microsoft stopped supporting its Windows XP software. That drove many consumers and businesses to upgrade their computers, giving a big boost to sales of newer Windows software. It seems that “end-of-XP” jolt is over. Microsoft said Windows licensing revenue fell 13 percent in the December quarter, now that most businesses have finished replacing their old XP computers.

PC sales have been slumping worldwide, but Microsoft said Windows and Office revenue in China and Japan markets was particularly weak due to broader economic issues in those countries. That weakness is likely to continue this year, Evercore analyst Kirk Materne wrote in a report Tuesday.

Microsoft said the strong dollar will trim revenue by 4 percent in the current quarter.

In less than a year, CEO Satya Nadella has made big strides in expanding Microsoft’s focus from PCs to the growing variety of gadgets, including smartphones and tablets, that people use to go online. The quarter showed major gains in sales of cloud-computing software, Surface tablets and Lumia smartphones. But Tuesday’s stock slump shows investors’ honeymoon with Nadella may be over.

“He is a very skilled executive,” Cowen analyst Gregg Moskowitz said of Nadella, in a note Tuesday. “Still, the big question remains whether Mr. Nadella can effect enough positive change over time.”

Microsoft shares fell $4.35, or 9.25 percent, to $42.66 at the closing bell, and tumbled as low as $42.10 earlier in the session. The stock was on a run-up for much of 2014, peaking at $50.05, but has slipped since the start of the year.

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