01:00 AM EDT, 04/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We hold our 12-month target at $475 on a P/E of 33x our CY 25 view, above historical given AI growth trajectory and visibility. We raise our FY 24 (Jun.) EPS estimate to $11.89 from $11.74, adjust FY 25 to $13.22 from $13.43, and keep FY 26 at $15.39. MSFT posts Mar-Q EPS of $2.94 vs. $2.45, ahead of our $2.84 estimate. Sales rose 17%, above our view, led by Intelligent Cloud (+21%), More Personal Computing (+18%), and Productivity and Business Processes (+12%). Elevated Azure Cloud growth (31% vs. our 29% view) is sparking investor enthusiasm, with 7 points of growth from AI (near our forecast), while adoption from Microsoft ( MSFT ) 365 Copilot remains promising with a longer tail. MSFT Jun-Q guide was near expectations with sustained Azure growth of +30%. Capex spend of $14B was above our view of $11.5B but reasonable to support growth/AI initiatives, with plans to increase in the Jun-Q and for FY 25. We note demand exceeds supply on the AI front, while MSFT points to slight operating margin compression for FY 25.