Microsoft has a new top bull on Wall Street as a payroll
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A bullish analyst increased his price target for
Microsoft
shares high on Wall Street high before the company's next quarterly financial results.
The Microsoft share (MSFT), up 37% in 2019 through Friday's proximity, was up 0.3% to $ 139.39 as
S&P 500
rose 0.5%. Nomura analyst Christopher Eberle who has a purchase price on the shares, increased his price target by $ 30 to $ 161. On Sunday, the average among analysts tracked by FactSet is close to $ 146.
"Material upwards to numbers seems to be less in fiscal policy 2019 than in previous years, but we think Microsoft's leading management team will continue to perform as it has been in previous years, "Eberle wrote. "We continue to believe that Microsoft's positioning in corporate software places it at the core of driving customers' digital transformation."
Wall Street is generally but not unanimous, bullish on Microsoft. Earlier this month, Barron's noted another analyst expecting up to the forthcoming quarterly results but having long-term concerns about the stock.
Microsoft is scheduled to report results for its fourth quarter after closing the market on Thursday. The consensus view on Wall Street is that revenue comes in at $ 1.21 per share, with revenue of around $ 32.75 billion, according to FactSet, up from $ 1.13 and $ 30.08 billion the year before.
Eberle expects a "relatively in-line quarter". On Sunday, Stifel analyst Brad Reback said the company could beat its estimates, slightly below consensus, at a profit of $ 1.20 per share and $ 32.69 billion in revenue .
"Microsoft continues to take advantage of its strong positioning over great worldly [computing] themes," he wrote. "This, combined with a favorable IT environment, strong implementation and cost discipline, will enable continued operating profit and free cash flow generation in coming quarters."
Nomura also increased its price target
PROS Holdings
(PRO), a producer of price optimization software, from $ 55 to $ 77. PROS shares were up 0.6% to $ 69.03.
Email David Marino-Nachison at david.marino-nachison@barrons.com. Follow him on @marinonachison and follow Barron's Next on @barronsnext .