MSFT - Microsoft Corporation
164.48 -0.65 (-0.39%)
After hours: 6:04PM EDT
| Previous close | 163.49 |
| Open | 165.67 |
| Bid | 164.85 x 2900 |
| Ask | 164.94 x 1200 |
| Day's range | 163.71 - 166.67 |
| 52-week range | 119.01 - 190.70 |
| Volume | 47,036,683 |
| Avg. volume | 51,427,901 |
| Market cap | 1.256T |
| Beta (5Y monthly) | 0.96 |
| PE ratio (TTM) | 28.76 |
| EPS (TTM) | 5.74 |
| Earnings date | 21 Apr 2020 - 26 Apr 2020 |
| Forward dividend & yield | 2.04 (1.25%) |
| Ex-dividend date | 19 May 2020 |
| 1y target est | 186.61 |
- TechCrunch
Microsoft starts testing a new news reading experience in Windows 10
Microsoft announced its latest Windows 10 preview build today and while that is a pretty routine affair these days, the company also used today's announcement to also launch the beta version of a new news consumption experience that anybody on a Windows 10 device can try out today. The Microsoft News Bar aggregates news from the 4,500 publishers in the Microsoft News network and then displays those as a semi-persistent bar on any side of your screen. Windows 10 has long featured the Microsoft News app, which is more of a fully-features news reading experience (though I admit I always forget it even exists).
- Yahoo Finance
Zoom is facing heat over privacy — here are 4 more secure alternatives
Nervous about all of the security and privacy issues facing Zoom? These 4 alternatives will help.
- Reuters
U.S., UK cyber officials say state-backed hackers taking advantage of outbreak
American and British cybersecurity officials are warning that state-backed hackers and online criminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak to further their operations, echoing concerns from digital safety experts. A joint advisory published on Wednesday by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency and Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said that while the overall volume of malicious activity does not appear to have changed, hackers of all varieties were leveraging anxiety around the disease outbreak to push people into clicking links and downloading attachments. "Bad actors are using these difficult times to exploit and take advantage of the public and business," Bryan Ware, CISA's assistant director for cybersecurity, said in a statement.
- Zacks
ETF Areas That Make Good Investment Choices for April
Here we highlight some ETF areas that investors can consider amid the coronavirus crisis.
- Bloomberg
There’s a Work-From-Home ETF Coming and Its Ticker is WFH
(Bloomberg) -- With millions of people around the world stuck in their home offices to help contain the coronavirus outbreak, companies that specialize in remote-working products are becoming a hot spot.For that reason, Direxion is planning to start a new “work-from-home” exchange-traded fund that tracks industries such as cloud technologies, remote communications and cyber security, according to a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The ETF will trade under the ticker WFH.Thematic funds, which seek to capture trends that are easily explained to retail investors, have struggled in a crowded ETF marketplace. However, Direxion’s remote-work offering is likely to resonate with traders given the recent popularity of those companies, according to CFRA Research’s Todd Rosenbluth.“This ETF combines some popular, well-established thematic strategies focused on cloud computing and cyber security with remote learning and document management that are all the more pressing, given Covid-19 concerns are likely to remain,” said Rosenbluth, CFRA’s director of ETF research.Read more: Cloud Computing Seen as Tech Haven Amid Pandemic UncertaintyCloud-computing companies have been a clear beneficiary of the stay-at-home and social distancing measures to help combat the spread of the virus. Shares of Microsoft Corp. soared last week after the company said its cloud services usage spiked by 775%.Still, some analysts aren’t convinced about the positive trend for the industry. While WFH’s narrative is “compelling,” the valuations of the tracked companies likely reflect the market’s enthusiasm for this theme, according to Morningstar Inc.’s Ben Johnson.“This too shall pass and investors have already bid up the shares of a lot of these stocks,” said Johnson, Morningstar’s co-head of passive strategy research.Other issuers have sought to capitalize on the work-from-home boost. The Wedbush ETFMG Global Cloud Technology ETF, which tracks global small and mid-cap companies involved in cloud infrastructure and technology, began trading this week.Unlike the majority of Direxion’s products, WFH won’t use leverage to amplify returns. The new offering is consistent with Direxion’s focus on broadening its thematic offerings to “buy-and-hold” investors, head of ETF product David Mazza wrote in an email. The firm launched three non-leveraged ETFs in February as part of that strategy.“While leveraged ETFs remain part of their lineup, they have expanded beyond the nice and highly tactical short-term oriented products,” Rosenbluth said.(Adds tout. An earlier version of this story corrected Microsoft’s share price.)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
Microsoft (MSFT) Azure Adopted by Blackrock to Host Platform
Microsoft's (MSFT) cloud revenues expected to benefit from Blackrock's adoption of Azure Cloud Platform.
- Zacks
Rising Work-From-Home Trend to Boost 5 Industries & ETFs
As many are working from home now to contain the spread of the coronavirus, some specific industries are benefiting.
- Zacks
Microsoft (MSFT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Microsoft (MSFT) closed at $163.49, marking a -1.08% move from the previous day.
- Business Wire
BlackRock and Microsoft Form Strategic Partnership to Host Aladdin on Azure as BlackRock Readies Aladdin for Next Chapter of Innovation
BlackRock and Microsoft Corp. have formed a strategic partnership to host BlackRock’s Aladdin infrastructure on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, bringing enhanced capabilities to BlackRock and its Aladdin clients, which include many of the world’s most sophisticated institutional investors and wealth managers.
- Bloomberg
Cloud Computing Seen as Tech Haven Amid Pandemic Uncertainty
(Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus pandemic has pressured nearly every corner of the global economy, but analysts continue to see sunny days ahead for cloud computing and the ecosystem that surrounds the technology.The sub-sector is seen as a rare bright spot in the current environment, particularly as the outbreak pushes more people to work remotely, contributing to a long-term trend of rising demand. The boost is expected to be broad based, helping software companies, communication firms, and chipmakers that focus on data-center products, which are processors used in cloud computing.“The lasting impact of Covid-19 could actually be a net positive,” wrote Richard Baldry, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners. Cloud-based communication companies “should see increased customer activity, at least once operational bandwidth returns to a somewhat more normal level for prospects.” He listed Five9, Medallia, eGain and LivePerson as names that could see stronger demand and which were trading at valuations he views as attractive.So far this year, the Global X Cloud Computing ETF -- an exchange-traded fund that tracks an index of companies involved in the space -- is down 6.4%. A different ETF, the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF, is down 9.2%. Both have outperformed the S&P 500’s drop of more than 15% over the same period.According to Wedbush, the pandemic has thrown “sales cycles, procurement/IT departments, and budgets into a tornado-like state of chaos,” resulting in unprecedented risks to IT spending. Even in this environment, analyst Daniel Ives wrote, “cloud remains a theme”; he expects $1 trillion to be spent on cloud computing over the coming decade.Ives named Microsoft as “the Rock of Gibraltar cloud stock to own,” but said the trend would also support the cloud-computing businesses of both Amazon and Alphabet.Earlier this week, Bank of America referred to cloud-focused chipmakers as a “shining house in [a] tough neighborhood,” referring to the headwinds facing other areas of the industry. Analyst Vivek Arya expects cloud capex to rise 13% in 2020. While this is down from a prior view of 16% growth -- the lower estimate reflects “the most current Covid-19 headwinds” -- it represents a “robust acceleration” from 2019, when capex grew just 3.5%.The firm listed Broadcom, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell Technology and Intel among the chipmakers most exposed to this trend. Nvidia has been one of the rare semiconductor gainers this year, and analysts have pointed to its data-center business as a tailwind.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
Coronavirus Progress Boosts Investors' Sentiments
Coronavirus Progress Boosts Investors' Sentiments.
- Zacks
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Teladoc Health, Zoom Video Communications, Microsoft and Alphabet
The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Teladoc Health, Zoom Video Communications, Microsoft and Alphabet
- Zacks
Microsoft (MSFT) Boosts Hardware Efforts With New Appointment
Microsoft (MSFT) looks to strengthen position in the hardware market by bringing Ruben Caballero on board.
- Zacks
3 Funds Fighting Coronavirus with the Help of Cloud and AI
The implementation of AI, cloud and machine learning to tackle pandemic-related challenges has taken a big leap in this hour of need.
- Bloomberg
Microsoft Hires Ex-Apple Exec in Charge of Wireless for Hardware
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. hired Apple Inc.’s former executive in charge of wireless technologies to work on mixed reality hardware and artificial intelligence technology.The Redmond, Washington-based technology giant appointed Ruben Caballero to a role as a corporate vice president, according to his LinkedIn profile. Caballero is working on hardware such as the HoloLens mixed-reality headset, according to his profile. The move underscores Microsoft’s investment in its growing hardware portfolio. Microsoft confirmed the hire.At Cupertino, California-based Apple, Caballero was a vice president of engineering in charge of developing wireless technology, such as antennas inside of devices like iPhones, iPads and Macs. He also oversaw Apple’s global wireless product testing efforts.Caballero worked at Apple from 2005 until early 2019 when his division’s work on modems -- chips that power cellular connectivity -- was subsumed by Apple’s custom chip division run by Johny Srouji. After leaving Apple, Caballero became an adviser at several Silicon Valley-area startups, including wireless company Keyssa and Humane, a startup run by former Apple employees.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
Hackers are posting verified Zoom accounts on the dark web
The dark web is full of coronavirus related scams, from compromised Zoom teleconferencing accounts, fake vaccines, phishing kits, and more.
- Yahoo Finance
Bill Gates is spending billions to ‘save months’ on a coronavirus vaccine
Microsoft (MSFT) founder and philanthropic billionaire Bill Gates is spending billions of dollars on seven possible vaccines for the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, in hopes of finding an end to the pandemic.
- Zacks
Microsoft (MSFT) & WalkMe Alliance to Aid Dynamics 365 Sales
Microsoft (MSFT) partners with WalkMe with an aim of bolstering Dynamics 365 adoption and boosting digital transformation of enterprises.
- Bloomberg
A Google Plan to Wipe Out Mosquitoes Appears to Be Working
(Bloomberg) -- An experimental program led by Google parent Alphabet Inc. to wipe out disease-causing mosquitoes succeeded in nearly eliminating them from three test sites in California’s Central Valley.Stamping out illness caused by mosquitoes is one of Alphabet unit Verily’s most ambitious public-health projects. The effort appears to be paying off, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on Monday. Verily is also running coronavirus triage and testing in parts of California. Bradley White, the lead scientist on the Debug initiative, said mosquito-suppression is even more important during the pandemic, so that outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever don’t further overwhelm hospitals.Since 2017, the company has released millions of lab-bred Aedes aegypti male mosquitoes into several Fresno County neighborhoods during mosquito season. The insects are bred in Verily labs to be infected with a common bacterium called Wolbachia. When these male mosquitoes mate with females in the wild, the offspring never hatch.In results of the trial published on Monday, Verily revealed that throughout the peak of the 2018 mosquito season, from July to October, Wolbachia-infected males successfully suppressed more than 93% of the female mosquito population at field test sites. Only female mosquitoes bite.Working with the local mosquito abatement district and MosquitoMate, which developed the mosquitoes originally, Verily released as many as 80,000 mosquitoes each day in three neighborhoods from April 2018 through October 2018. In most collections, per night Verily found one or zero female mosquitoes in each trap designed to monitor the population. At other sites without the lab-bred bugs, there were as many as 16 females per trap.“We had a vision of what this should look like and we managed to do that pretty perfectly,” said Jacob Crawford, a senior scientist on the Debug project.In the arid climate of the Central Valley, disease is an unlikely result of a mosquito bite. But in the hot, humid regions of the tropics and subtropics, diseases caused by the Aedes aegypti, such as dengue fever, Zika virus and chikungunya, kill tens of thousands of people every year. Releasing masses of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes into the wild might wipe out entire populations of deadly mosquitoes and the diseases they carry.Verily is not the only organization pursuing an end to mosquito-borne disease. Microsoft Corp. co-Founder Bill Gates has pledged more than $1 billion to help wipe out malaria, including controversial efforts to genetically modify mosquitoes. Infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia, which occurs naturally in some mosquito species, is a popular approach rooted in an old insect control strategy called sterile insect technique. What Verily’s efforts offer is not just evidence that Wolbachia can help wipe out disease-causing mosquitoes but potential ways to make such efforts work on a massive scale. Last year, Verily released about 14.4 million mosquitoes in Fresno County.Initial small-scale Fresno trials in 2016, run by an upstart called MosquitoMate, were the first time male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the bacteria were ever released in the U.S. The following year, Verily stepped in, bringing more advanced technology to the breeding and release process that could make it possible to expand such efforts to entire cities or regions.The new paper details many of those technologies, such as an automated process for separating male and female mosquitoes in the lab, and software that helps to determine exactly where to release altered male mosquitoes for maximum effectiveness.“Once you try to start rearing hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes a week, you run into all sorts of problems,” said White. “Mosquitoes may be everywhere, but they are really finicky and difficult to grow.”Verily has expanded its partnerships to include Singapore’s National Environment Agency. Trials there have entered a fourth phase to cover 121 urban residential blocks and about 45,000 residents. Verily is eyeing partnerships in South America and is in talks to launch in the Caribbean.Within a few years, said Crawford, Verily hopes the program will cover entire regions. Without intervention, he said, the public health toll of mosquito-born illness will only grow.“This is something that’s not going away on its own,” he said.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
Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Twilio, Splunk, Amazon, Adobe and Microsoft
Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Twilio, Splunk, Amazon, Adobe and Microsoft
Investor's Business Daily VideoMicrosoft Eyes Key Resistance
Microsoft is still well below a 190.80 buy point. But the RS line is already at new highs. MSFT is working toward its 50-day line and March 31 peak. A move to 164.88 or above would clear both those areas, a nice early entry for this Long Term Leader.
