Microsoft Could Be Worth Far More as Its Cloud and AI Businesses Scale Vandita Jadeja Tue, October 13, 2026 at 7:15 AM EDT 4 min read MSFT +1.14% GOOG +0.32% AMZN -1.11% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Azure's 43% growth and an $678 billion commercial backlog drive a $636 price target for MSFT, implying 19% upside with a BUY rating.
Microsoft's 45% operating margin dwarfs Alphabet's 34% and Amazon's 14%, justifying its forward P/E premium over both cloud rivals.
Capex surged 80% to $116 billion in fiscal 2026, squeezing free cash flow 6% and marking the key risk to watch against margin recovery.
Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and Microsoft didn't make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat MSFT. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) trade at $534.55. The 24/7 Wall St. price target sits at $636.14, which implies 19% upside over 12 months. The stock gets a buy rating with high confidence.
Microsoft is up 4.24% this week, 8.22% over the past month and 11.23% year to date. It sits 2.7% below its 52-week high of $549.20.
Fiscal Q4 revenue reached $90.01 billion, exceeding the $87.63 billion estimate, and EPS of $4.74 beat the $4.24 consensus. Azure grew 43%, and commercial backlog rose 84% to $678 billion.
Management guided Q1 Azure growth to about 45% and said "demand continues to exceed available supply." Microsoft 365 Copilot has passed 30 million paid seats.
Wall Street's consensus target is $587.63, with 14 Strong Buy and 39 Buy ratings. Our bull scenario reaches $738.76.
Fiscal 2026 capex rose 79.62% to $115.95 billion, and free cash flow fell 6.46%. Microsoft Cloud gross margin also slid to 65%.
Why Didn't MSFT Make The Top 10 List?
24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now.
The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today.
Enter Your Email and See the Ten →
On the other side, operating cash flow grew 34.35%, and much of the spending goes to short-lived chips that can be restricted (we featured seven suppliers supporting this kind of expansion, from power to cooling, in a free AI infrastructure report). The bear case sits at $539.40.
Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) competes directly through Google Cloud.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) runs AWS, the largest rival hyperscaler. Both trade at lower forward multiples than Microsoft. Microsoft's higher margin helps explain its modest premium, which makes our target look reasonable.
A 24/7 Wall St. price target of $636.14 comes with a buy rating and 90% confidence. The commercial backlog is the deciding factor. Keep an eye on whether Azure growth keeps speeding up and whether free cash flow keeps falling without margin recovery.
The projections rest on Microsoft continuing to execute its current strategy. Faster Copilot adoption or a decline in AI demand could shift them sharply.
If you have cash sitting in your account right now, give this two minutes. After more than two decades of helping investors beat the market, our top analysts at 24/7 Wall St. put together a definitive report on the Top 10 Stocks To Buy Today. And MSFT wasn't one of them.
They combed the entire market. It's not 10 ideas, not 10 stocks everyone is talking about, it's what their research points to as the 10 best stocks to buy right now, and it's free. Read more here and see which stocks made the list -->>
Contact editorial@247wallst.com for any questions or corrections.
