Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial)
Microsoft hit all-time highs in August before a market correction in tech took hold in September. While it slightly trailed the market in the third quarter, Microsoft has thrived through the work-from-home movement brought on by COVID-19 and has maintained consistent revenue and earnings growth through the pandemic. Daily active users on their Teams collaboration software has more than tripled since the beginning of the year. Quarterly revenue growth for their Azure cloud has remained over 40% due to strong demand as more businesses transition to digital operations. It has invested heavily in gaming with its Xbox systems as well as more recent investments in cloud gaming with xCloud. At the end of September, Microsoft agreed to purchase ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion. Gaming is one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment and is expected to reach nearly $160 billion in 2020 according to Reuters. In addition, the Microsoft Office product line has seen strong demand this year as more businesses and schools switch to remote work. Microsoft has over $136 billion in cash, equivalents and short-term investments.
From Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio)'s Auxier Asset Management fall 2020 market commentary.
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