Microsoft Corp.’s stock closed Thursday with a milestone only Apple Inc. had previously achieved.
Shares of Microsoft
MSFT,
closed at $404.87, up 0.6%, to give the tech giant a market capitalization just north of $3 trillion. On Wednesday, the stock briefly peeked above that level, but closed the day just shy.
Apple Inc.
AAPL,
is the only other U.S. public company to close with a market capitalization above $3 trillion, first doing so at the end of June.
While Apple and Microsoft have jockeyed for the top spot in the U.S. market-cap tables in recent sessions, the iPhone maker currently reigns supreme, with a $3.01 trillion valuation as of Thursday’s close.
Also see: Alphabet shares close at all-time high
After going public in March 1986, it took Microsoft 8,351 trading days to achieve a $1 trillion valuation, according to Dow Jones Market Data, but the maker of Office and Windows needed only 543 sessions to make it to $2 trillion. It then took 650 days to reach $3 trillion.
“We expect that the ‘3 A’s’ (AI, Azure, and Activision) will help power positive estimate revisions over the course of [calendar 2024],” Evercore ISI analyst Kirk Materne wrote recently. “Clearly, the primary focus for investors in the coming quarters will be Azure growth and the monetization of Microsoft 365 Copilot, but it should be noted that a more positive PC cycle, the integration of Activision into the gaming business and continued traction in cybersecurity will also help drive growth in 2024.”
Microsoft reports fiscal second-quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon.
Check out On Watch by MarketWatch, a weekly podcast about the financial news we’re all watching — and how that’s affecting the economy and your wallet. MarketWatch’s Jeremy Owens trains his eye on what’s driving markets and offers insights that will help you make more informed money decisions. Subscribe on Spotify and Apple.
Read the full article here
