Microsoft Shares Trade More Than 6% Below Record Before Ignite

Microsoft (MSFT) shares were down 0.4% at $518.94 in premarket trading Thursday, after falling 2.3% Wednesday. The price was more than 6% below the stock’s record closing level of $555.80, reached Nov. 4.

Citi analyst Tyler Radke retained a Buy rating and a $680 price target. He expects Microsoft’s Ignite opening keynote to address enterprise AI adoption and wants details on Copilot’s expansion toward an enterprise agent platform, including updates on orchestration, governance, observability and controls.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Wood has an Overweight rating and a $650 target. He wants evidence Microsoft can generate more revenue and gross profit from each dollar invested in AI infrastructure. Wood does not expect a change to near-term guidance.

Morgan Stanley has also tied sustaining Microsoft’s share rebound to Azure growth in the mid-40% range and stronger Microsoft 365 and Copilot monetization.

Microsoft’s Oct. 28 results included earnings per share of $4.89, above the $4.72 analyst estimate. Revenue rose 18.8% year over year to $92.28 billion, topping the $90.62 billion estimate.

Microsoft Ignite is scheduled for Nov. 17-20, with Azure and Copilot expected to feature prominently.