Two opinions in support of that position, following Microsoft’s earnings report last night. First up, value investor Eddy Elfenbein:
After the closing bell on Thursday, Microsoft (MSFT) reported fiscal Q2 earnings of 76 cents per share, which was a penny ahead of expectations. I think these results were decent despite widespread claims that Windows 8 has been a bust.
For the quarter, Microsoft’s profits dropped by 4% compared with last year. Quarterly revenue rose 3% to $21.46 billion, which was just shy of Wall Street’s forecast of $21.53 billion. The Windows division makes up about one-quarter of Microsoft’s overall business, and sales there rose by 11%. However, the company is getting slammed in its entertainment and office divisions.
To be sure, Microsoft has its share of problems. The online division is a financial black hole, and Xbox revenue is falling rapidly. On the plus side, Microsoft is doing better with business customers. That’s often been a tough nut for MSFT to crack. They were able to sign up more customers to long-term contracts, which bodes well for future business.
The problems Microsoft is having are plaguing the entire PC sector, and that’s one of reasons why the company has joined a possible deal to take Dell (DELL) private. I think one analyst summed it up well when he said, “Microsoft is evolving really into an enterprise software company.”
The bottom line is that Microsoft is a company with a lot of problems. But the share price is well beneath the fair value. The stock is currently going for less than 10 times this fiscal year’s earnings. Microsoft remains a good buy up to $30.
And from Quora, is response to the question ‘Is Microsoft the next RIM?’, here’s former MS developer Balaji Viswanathan:
Photo: gholzer
