TLDR
- Citi and Goldman Sachs both maintain Buy ratings on Microsoft stock
- Q2 revenue hit $81.3B, up 17% YoY; net income rose 60% to $38.5B
- Azure grew 39% YoY; Copilot seats up 160% to 15 million paid users
- Maia 200 chip now performs closer to Amazon and Google rivals
- 41 of 50 analysts rate MSFT a Strong Buy; consensus target is $595.60
Wall Street is staying bullish on Microsoft (MSFT), with Citi and Goldman Sachs both reaffirming Buy ratings within days of each other.
Microsoft Corporation, MSFT
The stock is trading around $397 — down 30% from all-time highs — while the average analyst price target sits at $595.60.
Citi analyst Tyler Radke kept his Buy rating after speaking with Microsoft’s investor relations team, focusing on AI positioning, cloud capacity, and capital spending.
Strong Q2 Numbers
Microsoft posted Q2 revenue of $81.3 billion, up 17% year-over-year. Net income jumped 60% to $38.5 billion.
Cloud revenue crossed $50 billion in a single quarter for the first time, growing 26% year-over-year. Azure led the charge, expanding 39%.
Microsoft 365 Copilot now has 15 million paid seats, up more than 160% year-over-year. Radke called it a genuine growth engine for Microsoft’s commercial software division.
GitHub Copilot reached 4.7 million paid subscribers, up 75% year-over-year. Dragon Copilot, used in healthcare, is logging 21 million patient encounters per quarter.
Over 80% of Fortune 500 companies now run active AI agents built on Microsoft’s tools.
Maia 200 Draws Goldman’s Attention
Goldman Sachs analyst Gabriela Borges reiterated a Buy rating and $600 price target after Microsoft’s Maia 200 announcement.
Before the update, Maia lagged behind competitor chips with limited benchmark data. Goldman now says performance is comparable to Amazon’s Trainium and Google’s TPUs on raw compute.
Goldman sees this as a positive for Azure’s AI compute margins long-term. Microsoft currently runs a 69% gross profit margin and a 34% return on equity.
The firm flagged some limitations — no full production run data yet, and the software ecosystem around Maia still needs work.
Analyst Outlook
Of 50 analysts covering MSFT, 41 rate it a Strong Buy, four say Moderate Buy, and five say Hold.
Revenue is forecast to grow from $281.72 billion in fiscal 2025 to $591 billion by fiscal 2030. Earnings per share are projected to rise from $13.64 to $31.84 over the same period.
Microsoft’s Maia 200 chip was announced January 26, 2025, and CEO Satya Nadella has said it delivers over 30% improved cost efficiency versus the previous generation.
The post Microsoft (MSFT) Stock: Citi and Goldman Sachs Reiterate Buy Ratings – Here’s Why appeared first on Blockonomi.
Source: https://blockonomi.com/microsoft-msft-stock-citi-and-goldman-sachs-reiterate-buy-ratings-heres-why/