Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Raymond James Says Microsoft Is A Buy After Q2 PC Data

[at Barrons.com] – Both Gartner and IDC released second-quarter PC shipment data, which showed positive demand in the US. Raymond James’s Michael Turits reiterated a Strong Buy rating on Microsoft (MSFT) on the heels of the report, writing that the estimates were roughly in-line with his expectations and those assumptions built into his bull thesis for the stock. Although he’s not changing his earnings forecast on the basis of the report, he believes that the moderating PC declines are good news for Microsoft, and he reiterated his $65 price target on the shares. Read more on this. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , valued at $418.69B, opened at $52.94. Shares have traded today between $52.79 and $53.40 per share and has traded between $39.72 and $56.85 over the past year. Priced at 19.70x this year’s forecasted earnings, MSFT shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry’s -0.52x forward p/e ratio. And for dividend hunters, the company pays shareholders $1.44 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.75%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 28 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.58 per share, which would be $0.02 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.08 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.67 is a $0.21 improvement when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $22.14 Billion. If realized, that would be a 0.18% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Macquarie Initiated MSFT at Neutral (Mar 4, 2016). Previously, Morgan Stanley upgraded MSFT from Equal-Weight to Overweight. The average price target for MSFT shares by the analysts covering it is $58.00, which is 9.56% above where the stock opened. See more in (NASDAQ:MSFT) Similar Articles: Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft Sues DoJ Over Data Request Order (MSFT) Company Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft sues U.S. government over secret customer data searches Company Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft’s underwater data center called its ‘most intriguing project’ in almost 40 years