Market Update (NASDAQ:MSFT): The stat that shows why Microsoft isn’t worried about its fluffy cloud results

[at CNBC] – Microsoft has played down the weakness of its cloud computing division in its latest results, saying that nearly three-quarters of its cloud customers are using more than one product on offer. Read more on this. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) , valued at $407.64B, finished yesterday at $52.11. Today, shares have traded between $52.22 and $52.35 per share and has traded between $39.72 and $56.85 over the past year. Priced at 19.52x this year’s forecasted earnings, MSFT shares are relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 16.73x forward p/e ratio. And for those looking to make a return holding the stock, the company pays shareholders $1.44 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.78%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 30 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.59 per share, which would be $0.01 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.11 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.67 which would be a $0.21 better than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $22.23 Billion. If realized, that would be a 0.23% increase over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Macquarie Initiated MSFT at Neutral (Mar 4, 2016). Previously, Morgan Stanley upgraded MSFT from Equal-Weight to Overweight. The average price target for MSFT shares by the analysts covering the stock is $57.86, which is 11.03% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:MSFT) Similar Articles: Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – How Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella plans to beat Amazon in the cloud Stock Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft Stock Still a Buy on Cloud Momentum (MSFT) Market Update: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Microsoft beats Wall Street view on high demand for cloud products