Wedbush ‘more bullish’ on Microsoft, despite earnings buzz Via Investing.com
Investing.com — Analysts at Wedbush said they feel “bullish” on Microsoft (NASDAQ: ) stock despite the noise after the tech giant’s earnings report.
The company reported first-quarter results that exceeded market expectations, with consistent year-over-year Azure revenue growth of 34%, beating forecasts by 100 points.
AI-driven growth played a major role, contributing 12% growth compared to 8% in the previous quarter, highlighting AI monetization trends that are benefiting Microsoft’s core cloud business.
Despite the figures, shares fell more than 3% in retail trading Thursday as Azure’s December quarter guidance for continued revenue growth came in at 31%-32%, below what some investors had expected.
Commenting on this, Wedbush analysts led by Dan Ives said they do not agree with this.
They noted that Azure’s new reporting standards “moved Streetr’s numbers around and a slight decline is expected by many investors with some supply constraints and re-acceleration in 2H25 and we will be strong MSFT buyers on any weakness this morning.”
The investment firm reiterated an Outperform rating on Microsoft stock with a $550 target price.
Wedbush highlights that the headline numbers for December were strong, especially in the key segment of Intelligent Cloud. Any softening is due to PC demand, which Ives and his team see as “background noise” within the broader cloud and AI growth narrative.
“We’re coming off this quarter higher (not lower) after seeing this growth in AI and the monetization of Copilot playing out in real-time for Microsoft. Bears will try to split hairs on any number but ultimately this is a tech stalwart in major growth mode,” the analysts continued.
Brett Iversen, Microsoft’s Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, confirmed that the company will not be able to address its AI limitations until the second half of its fiscal year. This may be another factor contributing to today’s negative market price action.
