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Microsoft (MSFT) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) closed at $101.18, marking a +0.62% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.86%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.38%.

Heading into today, shares of the software maker had lost 9.5% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 5.08% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.55% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from MSFT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be January 30, 2019. In that report, analysts expect MSFT to post earnings of $1.09 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 13.54%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $32.46 billion, up 12.24% from the prior-year quarter.

MSFT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.43 per share and revenue of $124.08 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +14.18% and +12.43%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for MSFT should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.12% higher. MSFT currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, MSFT is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.69. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 25.89.

It is also worth noting that MSFT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.82. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. MSFT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.99 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 82, which puts it in the top 32% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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