Here’s what’s powering Microsoft’s latest move higher:
1. A blow-out March-quarter (FY 25 Q3) earnings print
- Revenue $70.1 B (+13 % y/y) and EPS $3.46 (+18 %) crushed consensus. The engine was Microsoft Cloud revenue $42.4 B (+20 %) with Azure & other cloud services up 33 %—its fastest expansion in more than a year .
- Management credited “AI everywhere,” noting that every $1 of Azure OpenAI spend is “driving $12-$15 of pull-through” in broader Azure services, and Copilot seat growth is accelerating (details on the call) .
2. Guidance and spending that signal
still-accelerating demand
Microsoft reiterated an $80 B cap-ex plan for FY 25 to build out AI datacentres, and projected low-20 % Azure growth for the current quarter—both well ahead of what the Street had modeled. Investors took that as proof the AI wave is translating into real, sticky revenue .
3. Immediate analyst upgrades & price-target hikes
Within 48 hours more than a dozen brokers lifted targets (Wedbush to $515, Morgan Stanley $482, Jefferies $550, etc.), calling the quarter “one of Microsoft’s strongest in a decade” and labelling the shares “the safest harbour in big-tech AI” . Fresh sell-side enthusiasm pulled in momentum money.
4. Market-cap jockeying & index effects
Thursday’s 7 – 8 % pop briefly pushed Microsoft back above Apple as the world’s most valuable company. Because MSFT is the heaviest weight in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, passive index-tracking flows amplified the upside .
5. Macro context: flight to quality in a choppy tape
With fresh tariff headlines and macro jitters knocking cyclicals, cash has rotated into mega-cap “AI winners” perceived as least sensitive to slowing growth. Microsoft, Meta and Nvidia have been the main beneficiaries .
Bottom line
Microsoft is “up” because the company just reminded Wall Street that it owns the two most profitable growth engines in tech—enterprise cloud and monetised generative-AI—and it’s converting them into faster revenue, fatter margins, and bigger buybacks right now. Until investors see evidence that demand or execution is slowing, the bid under MSFT is likely to stay well-supported.