Billionaire Ken Fisher’s Top 15 Stock Picks Heading into 2025

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2. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Fisher Asset Management’s Equity Stake: $12.01 Billion

Number of Hedge Funds Holding Stakes: 279

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) develops and supports software, services and devices worldwide. In addition to offering Office Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 copilot, it also provides cloud computing solutions under Azure. The company also generates significant revenues through its gaming unit under Xbox. It is one of billionaire Ken Fisher’s top 15 stock picks heading into 2025 as an investment play around artificial intelligence.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s early investments in OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, helped it outpace some of its AI competitors. Its $14 billion investment in OpenAI has given it access to advanced AI solutions that it is using to enhance its search engine and cloud offerings.

In addition, about 70% of Fortune 500 companies already use Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s AI offering under Microsoft 365 Copilot AI. Similarly, AI business and offerings are on course to become a key revenue generator with a run rate of about $10 billion.

As demand for cloud computing solutions increases, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) should be one of the biggest beneficiaries. The company controls about 20% of the market share, just behind Amazon in the segment. MSFT’s Azure cloud services revenue was up 33% in the Fiscal 2025 first quarter. The increase underscores the company’s long-term prospects in the burgeoning segment.

Here is what Alger Spectra Fund said about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a beneficiary of corporate America’s transformative digitization. The company operates through three segments: Productivity and Business Processes (Office, LinkedIn, and Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud (Server Products and Cloud Services, Azure, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (Windows, Devices, Gaming, and Search). During the quarter, shares detracted from performance after Microsoft reported weaker-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter revenue growth in its Azure cloud segment. Additionally, management’s fiscal first[1]quarter 2025 Azure revenue guidance came in slightly below estimates. Despite this shortfall, management highlighted that AI contributed 7% to cloud growth, up from 6% last quarter and 3% a year ago. We continue to believe that Microsoft is well-positioned to maintain a leadership role in AI, given its innovative approach and significant growth potential.”

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