During the quarter, Microsoft’s cloud and digital collaboration tools helped the company grow during uncertain times. Stay-at-home orders forced many companies to rethink how they do business as they begin to look for ways to digitize their operations more rapidly. Azure cloud continued to drive growth for Microsoft and its revenue has grown over 45% in each of the last 4 quarters. The shift to working remotely has significantly boosted collaboration apps like Teams and Skype. COVID-19 has also had a positive impact on the gaming industry in which Microsoft has an interest with their Xbox brand. Play time on Xbox’s subscription service increased by 130% during the peak of the shutdown and the Xbox ecosystem now has nearly 90 million monthly active users. As a software focused company, Microsoft should be able to capitalize on the continued shift to digital following the disruption caused by COVID-19.
From Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio)'s Auxier Asset Management summer 2020 market commentary.
