We recently published a list of 11 Best Extremely Profitable Stocks to Buy According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other best extremely profitable stocks to buy according to analysts.
Fed’s Response to Inflation and Growth Challenges
We recently covered 10 Best Stocks to Buy Now For the Long Term, where we talked about the market outlook amidst the tariff situation and uncertainty. Here’s a piece from the article:
While the S&P 500 is hovering near correction territory, marking five years since its COVID-19 drawdown. Wyne noted that the risks appear evenly distributed between bullish and bearish outlooks. On one hand, the bears argue that softer economic data and rising consumer inflation expectations could worsen with tariff escalations, potentially leading to stagflation. On the other hand, bulls counter that weak sentiment data does not necessarily reflect hard economic indicators such as employment and retail sales, which remain robust. Wyne highlighted that bulls point out that long-term inflation expectations are still anchored near the Fed’s target, mitigating risks of a wage spiral. He pointed out that historically speaking, investing during sentiment troughs has yielded strong returns in subsequent months.
Lastly, closing his market outlook with some investment advice, Wyne suggests that balancing risks by maintaining strategic asset allocation might be a viable strategy. He added that investors should use equities for long-term capital appreciation and fixed income for hedging during slowdowns. In addition, tactical adjustments can help capitalize on emerging opportunities while adding resilience through assets like gold and infrastructure investments. Wyne stressed that despite market volatility since the COVID-19 drawdown, the S&P 500 has risen over 150%, which underscores the importance of staying invested through uncertainties.
Despite the market volatility, the Federal Reserve has decided to wait and see during the March 2025 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. On March 20, Cristina Dwyer, an analyst at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, commented on the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain the federal funds rate at 4.5%. She emphasized that this decision reflects the Fed’s cautious approach in light of a resilient economy and moderating inflation trends. While inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target, core consumer prices have decelerated significantly over the past year, signaling progress in controlling price pressures. Dwyer noted that this steady economic backdrop allows the Fed to adopt a “wait-and-see” strategy, while carefully monitoring the effects of recent policy changes and external factors before making further adjustments.
Dwyer also highlighted the Fed’s decision to slow quantitative tightening by reducing its monthly cap on US Treasury redemptions from $25 billion to $5 billion starting in April. This move aligns with the broader efforts to balance monetary policy normalization without disrupting financial markets. However, she pointed out that uncertainty remains high due to recent tariff policies, which have contributed to elevated inflation projections for 2025.
For investors, Dwyer underscored the importance of reassessing portfolios in light of these developments. She advised ensuring diversification and alignment with long-term financial goals, as economic uncertainty persists and interest rate adjustments are expected later in the year. Despite weaker economic projections in the Summary of Economic Projections, such as lower GDP growth and higher unemployment forecasts, Dwyer noted that the Fed remains optimistic about continued economic expansion within a resilient macroeconomic environment.
Our Methodology
To curate the list of 11 best extremely profitable stocks to buy according to analysts we used Finviz stock screener, CNN, and Morningstar. Using the screener we aggregated a list of stocks with more than 30% TTM net profit margins and analyst upside potential of at least 20%. Next, we cross-checked the TTM net profit margin for each stock from Morningstar and analyst upside potential from CNN. Lastly, we ranked these stocks in ascending order of analysts’ average projected upside potential. We have also added hedge funds’ sentiment around each stock. Please note that the data was recorded on March 21, 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A development team working together to create the next version of Windows.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
TTM Net Profit Margin: 35.43%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 317
Analyst Upside Potential: 27.79%
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is a global technology company that operates through three key segments including Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. It provides a range of software, services, and devices for individuals and organizations.
Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund in its Q4 2024 investor letter mentioned that they maintained an underweight position in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) during the fourth quarter of 2024, which proved beneficial due to a decline in the company’s share price. Moreover, recently Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth reiterated a Buy rating on the stock. The analyst believes that the company’s AI leadership has been enhanced by its integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its products. During the fiscal second quarter of 2025, the company reported a revenue of $69.6 billion reflecting a 12% increase year-over-year. In addition the operating income also grew 17% during the same time to reach $31.7 billion. Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services were a key contributor as it grew by 15% driven by Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenue. It is one of the best extremely profitable stocks to buy according to analysts.
Columbia Seligman Global Technology Fund stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:
“Within software, the fund maintained an underweight position to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which proved beneficial as share price for the company fell during the fourth quarter. Microsoft’s outlook for its Azure business came down slightly, which hampered the stock price at times during the quarter and, combined with losses on the Open AI business, led to a disappointing end to 2024. The company has guided its capital expenditure spending up slightly and investors continue to wait for additional monetization from the company’s large commitment to AI infrastructure spending. The fund continued to hold an overweight allocation to Oracle as we believe Oracle is positioned to be a major beneficiary of the AI rollout and has the potential to compete with other large cloud providers, such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft. Oracle shares moved lower during the quarter and the stock suffered its worst day of the year in December, as the company narrowly underperformed analysts’ average estimates. Oracle’s business model remains strong as demand for computer power that can handle AI is increasing and the company’s revenues from its cloud infrastructure unit moved higher year over year.”
Overall, MSFT ranks 8th on our list of best extremely profitable stocks to buy according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
