Is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) the Best AI Stock to Buy?
We recently published a list of Top 10 Buzzing AI Stocks Now. Since Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks 2nd on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Following the aggressive rate cut by the Federal Reserve, the market roared to new highs but quickly lost enthusiasm as investors look for clues on what might be ailing the economy that pushed the Fed to go more dovish than expected. However, others think the bull market is going to continue.
BMO Capital’s Brian Belsk has raised the S&P 500 target for 2024 to 6,100 from 5,600. Talking to CNBC in a latest program, Belsk said the “resiliency” of this bull market is “undoubted.”
The analyst said that the stock market is going higher through the end of this year.
“We do believe that the Fed is doing a great job. We believe the Fed that we are not hitting into a recession. We believe the Fed that we are heading into more of a soft landing,” the analyst said.
Belsk thinks we are in the “1995-1996 environment” where we can “handle” the 24x earnings multiple.
The analyst added that the Mag. 7 stocks underperformed the market in the third quarter and yet the broader market grew, which shows the market rally is broad.
For this article we chose 10 AI stocks trending on the back of latest news, earnings and analyst ratings. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
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Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 279
Ankur Crawford, Alger executive VP, while talking to CNBC in a latest program said that in about 3 to 5 years AI is going to provide us with superhuman intelligence.
“All of the CapEx being spent today is whole-heartedly justifiable because the opportunity to monetize that AI by that time is beyond what anyone has contemplated in the market so far.”
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the top AI picks of Ankur Crawford.
Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares fell following its quarterly results which showed the company’s Cloud business growth was lower than expected. For the ongoing quarter, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) expects revenue in the range of $63.8B and $64.8B, compared to the $65.07B estimate. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure revenue is expected to grow by 28% and 29% year over year.
But what about AI? While Microsoft does not mention specific AI numbers, analysts believe Copilot is already playing a key role in growth at several segments of the company. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) Office’s commercial customer sales soared to $48 billion, significantly up from last year’s 10% growth, likely driven by Copilot Pro subscriptions. Office for individual users also saw a boost, with sales reaching $6.2 billion, a 4% increase compared to last year’s 2% growth, indicating accelerating growth from Copilot integration. Dynamics ERP and CRM software sales hit $6.3 billion, up 19%, surpassing last year’s 16% growth. This uptick is likely due to customers switching to Dynamics for the Copilot integration in the Dynamics Contact Center platform, which provides automated customer service chatbots and significant cost reductions. Bing sales jumped 3% year over year as more users switched to the search engine from Google Search, thanks to AI features.
While Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) expenses are expected to remain elevated, its investments are working and would bear fruit in the long term. The stock is down about 11% over the past month. It trades 26x next fiscal year’s earnings. MSFT could be an attractive buy on the dip for long-term investors.
Alger Spectra Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. The company operates through three segments: Productivity and Business Processes (Office, LinkedIn, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (Server Products and Cloud Services, Azure, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (Windows, Devices, Gaming, and Search). During the quarter, shares contributed to performance after the company reported strong fiscal third quarter results, underscoring its leadership position in the cloud and highlighted its role as a primary facilitator and beneficiary of AI adoption. Company revenue growth, operating margin, and earnings growth surpassed consensus expectations. The utility scale Azure cloud business grew 31% in constant currency of which 7% was AI related versus 3% two quarters ago. Further, management noted most of the AI revenue continues to stem from inference rather than training indicating high quality AI applications by Microsoft’s clients. Management also indicated that the significant cost-cutting programs in corporate America are done, suggesting that the cost optimization headwinds previously impacting Azure’s growth are over. Separately, management provided color on their new AI-productivity tool, Copilot, noting that approximately 60% of Fortune 500 companies are already using Copilot, and that the quarter witnessed a 50% increase in Copilot assistance integration within Teams. We continue to believe that Microsoft has the potential to hold a leading position in AI, given its innovative approach and demonstrated high unit volume growth opportunity.”
Overall, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ranks 2nd on Insider Monkey’s list titled Top 10 Buzzing AI Stocks Now. While we acknowledge the potential of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.