1. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 258
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the best gaming stocks to buy now. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) offers PCs, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, and related hardware and software. The company also owns the Xbox network, an online multiplayer gaming platform. Microsoft is currently in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), an American video game developer.
On September 20, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declared a $0.68 per share quarterly dividend, a 10.0% increase from its prior dividend of $0.62. The dividend is payable on December 8, to shareholders of record as of November 17.
Wells Fargo analyst Michael Turrin on October 12 reaffirmed an Overweight rating on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) but lowered the price target on the shares to $315 from $350 ahead of two upcoming potential catalysts, namely the Ignite Conference and Q1 earnings.
According to Insider Monkey’s data, 258 hedge funds were bullish on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at the end of June 2022, compared to 259 funds in the prior quarter. Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management is a prominent stakeholder of the company, with 19.6 million shares worth over $5 billion.
Here is what Lakehouse Capital specifically said about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its September letter:
“During the month, the Fund initiated a new position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), a name that is no doubt familiar to our investors. The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in a friend’s garage in 1975 and began dominating the operating system market with MS-DOS by the mid-1980s. The company has come a long way since then and is now widely considered the most critical and indispensable IT mega-vendor for businesses globally. In addition to its well-known Windows operating systems and Office productivity suite, the company has a broad portfolio of strategic products, including a rapidly growing public cloud business in Azure and a sizeable gaming presence.
Microsoft’s foundational products, Office365 and Windows365, are ubiquitous and highly penetrated with circa 90% and 80% market share, respectively. These solutions are deeply ingrained in commercial and personal use globally and across all industry sectors. They serve as stable, high-margin cash flow generators for Microsoft whilst they expand and invest in other growth areas of the business. One particular growth area, which is the most exciting part of Microsoft’s business in our view, is their public cloud service, Azure.
Azure has grown at a rapid clip over the past decade to cement itself as the second-largest cloud service provider globally, behind Amazon Web Services. The business benefits from strong secular tailwinds as cloud adoption continues unabated and there is considerable runway ahead – it’s currently estimated that less than 20% of global IT spend is currently in the cloud. Research indicates that 80% of enterprises use Azure and its market share has grown to 21%, up from 13% five years ago. The mission-critical nature of the product, which is similar to many of Microsoft’s other solutions, is incredibly attractive as it leads to sticky, recurring revenue streams. Something we love to see…” (Click here to read the full text)
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