Microsoft
MSFTMarket price data through November 12, 2026.
Performance
Nov 2021 – Nov 2026
Track record
How this pick has done since Benson first called it.
- Benson Return
- +29%
- How much this stock is up since Benson first picked it — measured from the price at the time of that first pick, not from today.
- First pick price
- ~$406
- Roughly what one share cost when Benson first picked this stock. This is the starting line for the Benson Return.
- Tracking since
- September 2024
- The month this stock first became a Benson pick.
- Tracking duration
- 26 months
- How long Benson has been tracking this pick.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is the software and cloud company most businesses quietly run on, from Outlook, Teams, and Office to Windows, Xbox, GitHub, and LinkedIn. Its Azure cloud rents out computing power to companies the way a utility sells electricity. It is also a major investor in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, which puts Microsoft at the center of the race to bring AI into every workplace.
The case for and against
Both sides of the story, in plain English.
- Azure Accelerates
Azure, Microsoft's cloud rental business, grew 48 percent this quarter, speeding up from 40 percent last quarter. The wider Microsoft Cloud brought in 63.9 billion dollars, up 30 percent, and that growth is speeding up too. Every company racing to use AI needs somewhere to run it, and more of them are picking Microsoft.
- Billions Already Booked
Customers have already signed 677 billion dollars in contracts Microsoft has not delivered yet, up 73 percent from a year ago. That is more than seven quarters of sales locked in. The company also kept about 40 cents of every sales dollar as profit and returned 10.2 billion dollars to shareholders through dividends and stock buybacks.
- Spending Spree
Microsoft is spending tens of billions of dollars on data centers and AI chips to keep up with demand. If AI demand ever cools, those buildings turn into very expensive overhead. Its OpenAI stake also makes profits jumpy, since headline profit grew 32 percent but only 18 percent once OpenAI swings are stripped out.
- Consumer Cooldown
The Devices and Consumer side, home to Windows, Surface, and Xbox, shrank 3 percent to 15.5 billion dollars. Windows and device sales fell 22 percent, and Xbox slipped 2 percent. Search ads grew 12 percent, but with the cloud and AI side now bringing in about 83 percent of sales, nearly the whole story rides on AI demand holding up.
Other companies we track
How to read this page
This automated research summary uses Financial Modeling Prep market data through 2026-11-12. Model signals, scores, and risk labels can change and may be incomplete or wrong.
Want Benson to watch MSFT for you?
Get the app to follow every Benson pick live — and let Benson do the research for you.