MSFT - Microsoft Corporation
| Previous close | 181.57 |
| Open | 180.20 |
| Bid | 0.00 x 900 |
| Ask | 0.00 x 800 |
| Day's range | 176.60 - 181.99 |
| 52-week range | 119.01 - 190.70 |
| Volume | 39,517,146 |
| Avg. volume | 54,206,125 |
| Market cap | 1.379T |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | 0.95 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 30.29 |
| EPS (TTM) | 6.00 |
| Earnings date | 16 Jul 2020 - 20 Jul 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 2.04 (1.12%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 20 May 2020 |
| 1y target est | 193.94 |
- Bloomberg
Sony Is Planning a PS5 Conference for as Early as Next Week
(Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. is planning a digital event to showcase games for its next-generation PlayStation 5 console that may take place as early as next week, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.The virtual event could be held June 3, though some people also cautioned that plans have been in flux and that the date may change. Other PlayStation 5 events may follow in the coming weeks and months, and Sony is not expected to reveal every essential detail on the console during its first presentation.Read more: Sony Is Struggling With PlayStation 5 Price Due to Costly PartsA Sony spokesperson declined to comment. The company’s shares were largely unchanged in early Thursday trading in Tokyo.The Japanese tech giant has only let out a trickle of information on the PlayStation 5 so far, which the company says remains on track for release this holiday season despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Chief Executive Officer Kenichiro Yoshida said earlier this month that Sony “will soon be announcing a strong lineup of PS5 games.”June is traditionally highlighted by the biggest games industry conference, E3 in Los Angeles, but that was canceled this year due to the spread of the virus. In response, Sony and many game publishers are refashioning their promotional plans around streamed online presentations.Read more: Sony Is Said to Limit PlayStation 5 Output in Its First YearWhile only a small circle within Sony are privy to the appearance of the PS5 console, the controller has been shared with outside developers and, fearing it wouldn’t be able to control leaks, the company made it public in early April.Fans have been eager to hear about the lineup of video games that will launch alongside the console and later.Microsoft Corp., Sony’s most direct rival in the console wars, has put out regular streams and updates about the upcoming Xbox Series X, which is also planned for release this fall.(Updates with chart and share action in third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Bloomberg
Workday Revenue Jumps on Robust Demand for Cloud Applications
(Bloomberg) -- Workday Inc. reported quarterly revenue that topped $1 billion for the first time, beating analyst estimates and continuing growth for the maker of human resources software despite the economic challenges of the pandemic. Shares rose more than 7% in extended trading.Revenue increased 23% to $1.02 billion in the fiscal first quarter, the Pleasanton, California-based company said Wednesday in a statement. On average, analysts expected $994 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. After some expenses, profit was 44 cents a share, compared with analyst projections of 47 cents.Workday expects subscription revenue for the fiscal year of $3.67 billion to $3.69 billion, down from as much as $3.77 billion. In the second quarter, subscription revenue will be as much as $915 million, the company said.Chief Executive Officer Aneel Bhusri has targeted a goal of $10 billion in annual revenue, from $3.6 billion the past fiscal year. The company continues to expand its human resources, accounting and planning software to offer the capabilities of established rivals Oracle Corp. and SAP SE, but delivered through the cloud. Before Workday reported results, some analysts were concerned that corporate customers aren’t interested in pursuing large software deals and complicated implementations during the Covid-19 pandemic.“The cloud is playing a critical role in today’s climate, with organizations leaning on Workday to pivot -- whether it’s helping employees learn virtually, closing books remotely, or scenario planning to determine what path to take,” Bhusri said in the statement.Workday also announced two partnerships Wednesday. One, with Microsoft Corp., will run Workday’s Adaptive Planning on the Azure cloud. Microsoft’s finance team will start using the product for its internal needs and both companies will collaborate on integrating their software products for mutual customers. The second partnership, with Salesforce.com Inc., aims to help organizations safely return to their offices in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Yahoo Finance
HP crushes earnings estimates on work-from-home PC demand — top exec says 'we are undervalued'
Yahoo Finance catches up with HP's CEO Enrique Lores fresh off its second fiscal quarter earnings report.
- GlobeNewswire
Microsoft, Workday Announce Strategic Partnership to Accelerate Planning for Today’s World
Microsoft (MSFT) and Workday Inc. (WDAY) today announced a strategic partnership prioritizing enterprise planning in the cloud and expanding the business solutions customers can use to better optimize their everyday work. Through this partnership, Workday customers will also be able to run Workday Adaptive Planning on the Microsoft Azure cloud.
- Bloomberg
Adobe Says ‘Major Issues’ Took Photoshop, Other Apps Offline
(Bloomberg) -- Adobe Inc., the maker of Photoshop, said some of its applications were knocked offline Wednesday by “major” technical issues.There were four major issues, down from 13 earlier, and 12 minor issues affecting Creative Cloud, Experience Cloud, Adobe Services and the Adobe Experience Platform as of 2 p.m. in New York, the San Jose, California-based company said. Adobe’s engineers were also trying to resolve other potential issues in progress.“We’re working urgently to get back online as soon as possible,” Adobe told users in a tweet. A spokesman said the technical issues aren’t security related.Major public-cloud vendors Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google reported no service issues, so the problems appear to be isolated with the software company. Adobe’s shares declined 1.6% to $370.76. The stock gained 14% this year through Tuesday’s close.Millions of people rely on Adobe’s creative and document apps. The company said its Creative Cloud apps have been downloaded 376 million times, and users opened 250 million PDFs with an Adobe program in the last year. Many businesses use Adobe’s marketing, advertising and analytics tools, which were disrupted by the technical problems.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
Activision Blizzard, Walt Disney, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
Activision Blizzard, Walt Disney, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
- Motley Fool
Better Buy: Amazon vs. Lowe's
Is the e-commerce and cloud giant a better overall investment than the resilient home improvement retailer?
- Bloomberg
Facebook Ran Multi-Year Charm Offensive to Woo State Prosecutors
(Bloomberg) -- Sheryl Sandberg’s schedule was packed as the Facebook Inc. chief operating officer arrived in Portland, Oregon, for a summer forum of state prosecutors who were meeting to talk shop and share ideas with one another.Sandberg was slated to chat with the state officials about corporate citizenship in the digital age during a private morning session that Facebook had organized at the downtown Hilton Hotel in June 2018. She had a meet-and-greet with Utah’s attorney general, Sean Reyes, who had been considered the year before for the chairmanship of the Federal Trade Commission. Later, in another Facebook-organized meeting, Sandberg and other company managers talked about digital privacy with the state legal chiefs.The meetings took place three months after reports that Facebook had allowed the harvesting of personal data of millions of users without their permission, in what became known as the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Federal and state lawmakers were escalating pressure on the company over the data breach as well as its dominance of the social-media market. The FTC and several state attorneys general had opened investigations.According to emails reviewed by Bloomberg, the sessions with Sandberg during the National Association of Attorneys General summer meeting were just one day in a multi year outreach program aimed at state prosecutors. Hundreds of emails were sent between company executives and state officials from 2017 to 2019, a sample of which were seen by Bloomberg. The emails were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Tech Transparency Project, which is part of the Campaign for Accountability, a political watchdog group.The emails show how Facebook went to great lengths to develop friendly relationships with powerful state prosecutors who could use their investigative and enforcement powers in ways that could harm Facebook’s revenue growth. In the end, the company’s charm offensive met with mixed results: Most of those attorneys general are now investigating the company for possible antitrust violations.Facebook isn’t unique among large companies in establishing contact with state attorneys general, and the Campaign for Accountability doesn’t allege wrongdoing by the social-media giant.“Attorneys general have massive jurisdiction over businesses and virtually everything they do,” said James Tierney, who served as Maine’s attorney general for a decade. “Every major industry should develop an understanding of attorneys general and reach out to them.”The state-level campaign played out as the company was also expanding its Washington presence to deal with allegations beyond antitrust and privacy, including that foreign interests had exploited its platform to interfere in elections.Over the last few years, the company has broken its own federal lobbying records, reconfigured the leadership of its policy shop, and brought Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to Washington to woo critics, including for meetings with President Donald Trump, who has accused the company of suppressing right-leaning perspectives.The Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit that has investigated technology companies, politicians and abortion-rights opponents, among others, obtained the emails from the AGs’ offices. Its executive director, Daniel Stevens, declined to name donors to the organization other than to say that they aren’t corporations and include the New Venture Fund, a public-interest philanthropy. Stevens’s group is also part of Freedom From Facebook & Google, an anti-big-tech coalition that counts Public Citizen and the Communications Workers of America as members.Facebook said the company has longstanding relationships with state AGs to collaborate on initiatives to keep the internet safe. “The country’s attorneys general take online safety seriously and so do we,” said Will Castleberry, Facebook’s vice president of state and local public policy. “That’s why for many years we have taken every measure to help them in protecting people and being the best partners we can be.” Facebook has worked with state prosecutors to promote online safety under a program that dates back to 2013.A Facebook spokesman said it’s continuing to work with state attorneys general on responding to the spread of Covid-19 and other issues.Allison Gilmore, the chief communications officer for the AGs’ association, confirmed that Facebook held a meeting at the same Hilton Hotel in June 2018, but said it wasn’t coordinated by the association, which doesn’t accept money from corporations to host events. “It is fairly common for outside organizations to schedule their own meetings adjacent to NAAG events, since more attorneys general are likely to be in attendance and available,” Gilmore said in a statement.While state attorneys general are law enforcement officials, they are also politicians and many see the post as a stepping stone to higher office. Corporate lobbyists often donate to their campaigns and schmooze with them at legal conferences, while also pressing their case on state regulatory issues.The emails show that Facebook offered to produce, distribute and promote public service messages for the state prosecutors. It hosted high-level meetings between the AGs and company executives. It also donated to the state prosecutors’ political campaigns and at times worked through them to craft state laws that might affect the company’s practices.Attorneys general looking to promote their ideas or accomplishments couldn’t do much better than Facebook’s offer of access to its platform. It has 1.7 billion daily users and can micro-target individuals by location and demographics. An Amazon.com Inc. spokeswoman said the company often works with state AGs on consumer protection issues such as privacy and price gouging, but said she isn’t aware it offers them any advertising discounts. The spokeswoman for the AGs’ association said she isn’t aware of any event hosting or filming of public-service ads by other large tech companies.Facebook and its employees, including Sandberg, donated more than $237,315 to various attorney general campaigns between 2014 and 2020, according to FollowTheMoney.org, which tracks political contributions at the state and local level. Microsoft Corp. and its employees gave $128,192 to attorneys general, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and its employees gave $120,686 and Amazon gave $43,945 in the same period, according to the campaign finance-tracking group.Facebook has also given nearly $579,000 to the Democratic and Republican associations of attorneys general between 2014 and 2018, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ database, which goes up to 2018. Google and Microsoft gave slightly smaller amounts in the same period.Spokespeople for Microsoft, Google and Amazon declined to comment on their donations.During the NAAG meeting in Portland, Facebook provided a top official as a speaker, according to the agenda. Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, joined a panel to discuss social media companies’ use of consumer data, along with former Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen and a lobbyist for a technology trade group.In the private meeting later that day, in addition to Sandberg, Egan, former general counsel Colin Stretch and Castleberry also planned to be present, according to an email from Castleberry to Reyes, the Utah attorney general. They discussed “the specifics of CA,” an apparent reference to Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm with ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign that obtained the Facebook data.‘Tremendous Corporate Partner’Alan Crooks, a political consultant for Utah’s attorney general, confirmed that Reyes met with Sandberg at the conference, but said the relationship with Facebook began years before. The social media giant had provided financial backing and expertise to a task force on internet crimes against children that the Utah attorney general and others were involved in. Facebook donated $25,000 to Reyes’s campaigns between 2014 and 2020, according to FollowTheMoney.org. In the same period, Microsoft gave Reyes $9,209, Amazon contributed $5,000 and Google $2,500.“Facebook has been a tremendous corporate partner” but it doesn’t get any special consideration in return for its help, Reyes said in a statement. “It is no secret that my office and other state AGs are currently investigating Facebook.”Reyes was potentially a well-placed ally for Facebook. In early 2017, Trump’s transition team included his name on its short list for FTC chairman, where he would have overseen both privacy and antitrust as one of Facebook’s most important regulators. The position went to Joe Simons, its current chairman.Facebook’s outreach helped it secure a key win in Vermont. In May 2019, an outside lobbyist for Facebook sent an email to Vermont Assistant Attorney General Ryan Kriger and State Representative Michael Marcotte, who were collaborating on the drafting of a new data-privacy bill. The lobbyist asked them to delay a vote on the bill so that Facebook could propose modifications. Kriger and Marcotte agreed to the delay, the emails show.Marcotte said it’s not unusual for lawmakers to delay a vote to seek input from organizations that have a stake in the outcome. “It was just to make it crystal clear what could be done and what can’t be done,” Marcotte said.During deliberations on the bill, Facebook asked to add language that ensures that companies could still use students’ information for marketing purposes as long as it wasn’t identifiable, according to Marcotte. While some lawmakers thought the added language was redundant, it eventually made it into a bill that became law in March, Marcotte said.Vermont DonationsFacebook donated a total of $8,580 to the campaigns of Vermont Attorney General Thomas Donovan between 2014 and 2020, according to FollowTheMoney.org. His office didn’t respond to requests for comment. In the same period, Google gave Donovan $4,000 and Microsoft gave $2,500.In February 2018, the emails show, Reyes and three other attorneys general encouraged their colleagues to participate in a video urging citizens to report suspected trafficking cases to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.“Our partners at Facebook are providing the production and distribution of a human trafficking awareness PSA, to be distributed via Facebook users beginning March 30,” the attorneys general wrote. The PSAs were filmed at an NAAG event and developed in conjunction with Thorn, an anti-human trafficking organization founded by actors Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore.At the time, Congress was pushing forward with a measure to narrow liability protections for websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking. Tech companies, including Facebook, initially opposed the legislation because it weakened the much-loved Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet platforms from lawsuits over content posted by third parties.The ads allowed Facebook to show it could fight sex trafficking without having to change the liability shield. But after a barrage of criticism, Facebook changed course and supported the legislation. Trump signed the bill into law in April 2018.In a January 2017 email, Castleberry thanked Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden’s office for participating in a video that encouraged consumers and organizations to maintain internet privacy and safety practices as part of an industry-backed public awareness campaign. He also sent instructions on how to use a “$3,000 coupon code,” so Wasden could advertise the video to constituents on Facebook without having to pay Facebook’s normal advertising rate. A spokesman confirmed that Wasden participated in the video, but said that his office didn’t use the promotional credit.Sandberg has donated $4,700 to AG campaigns between 2014 and 2020, according to FollowTheMoney.org. That doesn’t include $5,000 to Letitia James in her successful campaign for New York attorney general in 2018. The money was later returned, and James is now leading an antitrust investigation of Facebook, joined by 46 other AGs.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Motley Fool
Is Take-Two Interactive Stock Headed to $170?
Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) has a new fan on Wall Street. The video game giant's shares were upgraded on Tuesday and assigned a $170 price target by Gerrick Johnson, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets. Johnson highlighted Take-Two's widening content portfolio, which includes sports franchises like the surging NBA 2K brand, as helping the company's growth.
- Zacks
Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Microsoft and Amazon
Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Microsoft and Amazon
- Motley Fool
Better Buy: Adobe vs. Salesforce
Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) are two cloud computing stocks that have outperformed the broader market throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Adobe's stock advanced nearly 20% this year as its Creative Cloud services, marketing services, and analytics tools locked in mainstream and enterprise customers. Salesforce's stock rose nearly 10% as its market-leading customer relationship management (CRM) tools faced only limited disruptions from COVID-19.
- Zacks
Amazon Focuses on Carbon Neutrality With 5 New Solar Projects
Amazon's (AMZN) five new renewable projects to bolster its carbon neutrality drive.
- Zacks
Google's New Accessibility Features to Drive User Momentum
Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google unveils accessibility options to deliver enhanced user experience to the people with cognitive and physical disabilities.
- Motley Fool
Amazon Stock Is the Coca-Cola of Cloud Computing
E-commerce veteran Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) has carved out a similar space for itself in the booming market for cloud computing services. Amazon Web Services is the first name on everybody's lips in that sector. "You can't beat the real thing," which is exactly what Coke has been calling itself since 1969.
- Zacks
3 Reasons Why Microsoft (MSFT) Is a Great Growth Stock
Microsoft (MSFT) possesses solid growth attributes, which could help it handily outperform the market.
- Motley Fool
2 Stocks You Can Buy and Hold Forever
Netflix and Microsoft have demonstrated the ability to meet challenges while delivering explosive returns for investors.
- Motley Fool
3 Recession-Proof Stocks to Buy Now
If you want to find recession-proof stocks, look no further than the companies doing well amid the coronavirus pandemic. Because Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) delivers compelling products to both business-to-business (B2B) and consumer markets, the tech giant is well-positioned to weather an economic downturn. Microsoft's Windows and Office products are ubiquitous, but that's just one of its strengths.
- Yahoo Finance
Amazon could be a huge threat to the gaming industry
Amazon has a big-budget game, another in the works, and a secretive cloud gaming service in the making. All of that could prove to be a problem for the industry's old guard.
- Zacks
Microsoft (MSFT) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Microsoft (MSFT) closed at $183.51, marking a +0.04% move from the previous day.
- Zacks
Buy FAANG Stocks, Plus MSFT as Big Tech Drives Coronavirus Market Rally?
The episode dives into FAANG stocks--Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google--plus Microsoft to see if investors should buy any of the stocks as big tech continues to drive the current coronavirus market rally...
- Motley Fool
Why Baozun Stock Was Sliding Again Today
Shares of Baozun (NASDAQ: BZUN) headed lower for the second day in a row as investors continued to sell the stock on fears that Chinese stocks would be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges. Baozun was down 9.3% as of 3:17 p.m. EDT. The latest salvo in the feud between the U.S. and China, which has taken on a new dimension due to the coronavirus pandemic, is the Senate's passage on Wednesday of a bill that threatens to delist Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges.
- Zacks
Zacks Value Trader Highlights: AbbVie, B&G Foods, H&R Block, Microsoft and Apple
Zacks Value Trader Highlights: AbbVie, B&G Foods, H&R Block, Microsoft and Apple
- Bloomberg
Work From Home Forever? Big Tech Is Divided on That
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The work-from-home movement is gaining steam in Silicon Valley as a flurry of companies – big and small – are embracing remote-working policies beyond the pandemic. But even as some executives extol its virtues, other tech leaders aren’t so sure, opening a growing divide inside the industry over the future of work. It’s a worthy debate.On Thursday, Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his company will start allowing some existing employees to work from home permanently. He said Facebook will also “aggressively open up remote hiring” for engineering talent in areas it doesn’t have an office, saying as much as 50% of the company’s employees could eventually work remotely within 10 years. In similar fashion, Shopify Inc. CEO Tobi Lutke said his e-commerce software company will allow its employees to work from home indefinitely, adding he expects that most of his staff will work remotely going forward. The days of “office centricity is over,” the executive posted on social media. The two companies join Twitter Inc., which said last week it will let employees work from home as standard practice as well.Not everyone in technology is on board. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. CEO Strauss Zelnick said on an investor call this week that he believes sustained strong productivity will get more difficult the longer people are forced to work from home, adding that “there is no substitute for in-person collaboration and connection.” That follows comments from Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella, who expressed concern in an interview with the New York Times last week that early positive remote-work productivity metrics may mask underlying deficiencies, in terms of managing and mentoring employees. He also raised worries about potential burnout and mental-health issues. “Maybe we are burning some of the social capital we built up in this phase where we are all working remote. What’s the measure for that?,” he asked.There’s something to be said for this pushback. Sure, there are many pluses to offering off-site work flexibility – including better employee retention and the ability to hire from a more diverse talent base in other geographies – but corporations should realize the work-from-home trend isn’t a panacea. In fact, there are significant drawbacks and challenges that shouldn’t be overlooked. As Zelnick pointed out, there are unquantifiable benefits derived from being in the same physical location. Scheduled videoconferencing meetings don’t engender the same spontaneous creativity compared to the many back-and-forth brief conversations during a typical day at an office. And nothing beats face-to-face interactions for building the relationships and trust required to persuade your colleagues on big decisions.It’s notable that even as Facebook projects confidence and forward-looking thought leadership in its charge toward its new work-from-home culture, it is implementing the change slowly. Zuckerberg said only the company’s senior engineers with strong performance reviews will be initially allowed to apply for remote-work flexibility, adding it will be a measured transition before extending the policy to non-engineers.To be frank, it wouldn’t surprise me to see many of these companies slow down their transitions to remote working. After all, the world is only a few months into this massive remote-work experiment. The initial productivity benefits may dissipate and significant negative consequences may well appear over time. Best not to rush into any drastic decisions.This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Tae Kim is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. He previously covered technology for Barron's, following an earlier career as an equity analyst.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft
- Zacks
Chegg, Brinker International, Microsoft, SAP and Appian highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
Chegg, Brinker International, Microsoft, SAP and Appian highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
