Microsoft Stock: Sales Might Be Slower This Quarter

The software giant might be experiencing slow growth in the upcoming quarter which might turn its stock downwards in the coming days

Microsoft Corporation has been growing its hardware and software business in all the right directions, making a huge comeback with the new version of its operating system, the Windows 10. It is to no one’s surprise that the giant has been falling behind in the money generation business and has been stomped over by rivals like Alphabet and Apple, both of which have been growing at a massive speed towards greatness. The recent activities that the software giant has been showing in the industry suggest that the company is not ready to continue falling behind in the tech world now and is ready to make a difference with its ideas and brainstorming now.

Analysts in the financial markets have been eyeing the activities of Microsoft stock for some time now and seem to believe that the giant could possibly be experiencing the same kind of success it enjoyed back in 2000 and that this time, the whole turnaround might be just at the right time. It is also believed by the industry pundits that the software company has been distributing dividends and showing considerable amount of growth in the sense for the past couple of quarters, which has positioned itself on the top.

Reportedly, Microsoft shares have also been growing in a rapid speed, with the EPS for every quarter increasing too. This has been considered as a surprising factor, given how the giant’s revenue for every quarter has been finding it hard to sustain over the past couple of years. Analysts, even those that have been bearish towards the giant’s stock, believe that the fact its share value, dividend distribution or EPS does not fall despite the unsatisfactory sales show that the company is indeed standing on firm ground. It is also believed that the software giant can also end up getting more investors in the long run, but investors in any company first demand certainty from the stock activities and this is something that is yet to be achieved by the Windows maker.

Microsoft business has also been carrying out huge buy back plans for its shares for the past three months in which it has reportedly bought back shares valued up to $4 billion in order to make pay back for shares and dividends. On the other hand, the sales of its hardware and software products has been going down and have been reported at 12% as compared to the sales done in the same quarter previous year.  

Microsoft Can Change Alphabet's Game In the Driverless Car Industry

The software giant has signed a deal with Volvo to enter the automotive industry by developing driverless car technology

Alphabet Inc might be at the top of its game where making driverless technology is concerned, but the recent evolution of other tech giants in the industry stepping onto the same platform to prove their worth is yet another worrisome competition for the giant that it cannot possibly ignore. Microsoft Corporation has come out to prove that the search engine giant might not be the lone dominant entity in the automotive vehicle business for a very long time, as it has signed up a deal with Volvo to start producing and developing technology to make driverless cars. Also, the software giant has decided to strike up a new and improved process to make buying cars easy for the customers.

Both the giants’ involvement as a partnership in the automotive industry is enough for the rivals to have their concerns raised about their own standing in the arena presently. Microsoft has so far not discussed the real dates of the release or initiation of the project with Volvo, but Zhejiang Geely’s company has informed the market of the fact that it will be making use of HoloLens to be incorporated in the new driverless cars. Analysts are of the opinion that this brand new partnership is directed towards the slowly establishing autonomous car industry and it is expected to go a long way.

Microsoft released ‘Windows in the Car’ in April which is software similar to CarPlay by Apple and Google’s Android Auto. The giant has slowly been getting in line with the progress that its rivals are making in the context and also upgraded the software with Cortana three months back. However, the software failed to attract much attention of the users as most of the limelight was stolen by QNX, which is BlackBerry’s version of the vehicle software.

Analysts are analyzing the partnership’s ongoing activities so far and have come to the conclusion that with the help of Volvo’s part, Microsoft business is set to make a big comeback in the overall industry. Even though Volvo is not an automotive brand with a massive fan following yet, analysts believe that this partnership is still expected to go a longer way to where Google is currently in the market. This is majorly because its parent company Alphabet has not yet gotten itself in any major deals regarding the autonomous technology yet which keeps the Windows makers a step ahead from it. 

Microsoft stock closed at $53.93 on Friday.

Apple Investors Concerned About Falling iPhone Demand

Investors are very bearish towards the company's stock as rumors suggest that it might be cutting down on the production of its hardware.

Apple Inc has yet again experienced an uninvited dip in the stock market which the investors were clearly not expecting at this point in time. The software company has been ensuring the investing party of the progress it has been making in the industry and it still showing massive signs of growth which are enough to make anyone bullish about where the giant seems to be headed.

In the last reported fiscal quarter, the iPhone 6 Plus manufacturers reported record sales of the smart phone in the Chinese region which boosted the total sales figures attained by the giant in the same quarter. Apple Watch sales, however, were not as great as expected and the strength of earnings came majorly from colossal sales of the new generation iPhone.

As for the Apple share price, the fluctuation on the index starting from July to September showed that despite the strength of the guidance coming from the management’s side, the investors might not be as satisfied as the company wants them to be. In August, shares fell to a value of $100 and only managed to linger around $110 in September, which the analysts think was due to the fear of the shareholders regarding the ultimate dead end the giant might face once it is done enjoying extremely high sales of its products. However, the software company reported a massive growth of 38% in the earnings per share for the last quarter of 2015, which was around 4% more than what the equity companies in the market expected out of it.

According to rumors, Apple has also cut down on its components orders recently, which shows that the giant is currently facing a massive decline in the demand for its products. Even though the Silicon Valley based company has been giving its investors positive guidance for the next quarter as well, the dreading feeling that they are feeling regarding the declining sales of iPhone and Apple Watch is now evident in their behavior towards the stock. The tech giant reported a total figure of 231 million iPhones that were sold during the whole year 2015, which analysts believe cannot be matched unless the company comes up with something interesting to update the smart phone with.

The guidance for the Q1 2015 remains positive, but the recent rumors have made the stock price decline by around 2.92% which analysts think does not make sense, as they seem to completely rely on the next quarter guidance provided by the giant. This is mainly because the losses that the software company faces are not as big as the positives it has been reporting for the past couple of years.

Where Is Apple Stock Headed?

The software giant has shown great growth signs in China which can also help it to think about dividend growth as well

Apple stock has been behaving in a surprising manner for quite some time now and the most amusing fact that has been keeping the analysts at an edge about the company is how its share price on the index has not climbed up, despite the improvements it has reported in the last quarter. In the past three month fiscal period, the smart phone giant managed to release a strong report on how it not only attained a strong profit in the quarter but also how it also scored really high sales figures as well, which according to the analysts, was meant to give the share price a major boost in the stock market.

However, no such progress was seen in the stock value even after such strong sales and revenue figures. One more factor that cannot be denied is that Apple share value has been receiving an amazing feedback from China which has helped its stock to climb the ladder up high and it can clearly be seen that without the sales from the Asian country, the growth observed by the Californian company is not much to be taken into consideration.

Analysts are of the opinion that for investors who are looking for reasons to grow in the industry but are not too sure of investing in an emerging market just yet, they should definitely own some shares in the Apple stock as it seems to be gaining strength every day, coming in majorly from the Chinese sector. The growth that was seen in the Asian country in the last quarter only showed a colossal growth of 84 percent on a year over year basis, with the total revenue generated from the country alone coming around at $58.7 billion.

According to a recent report on the Apple business, it was reported that the giant could be experiencing a ‘China syndrome’, which is due to the excessive sales it seems to be making in the country without any signs of slowing down. News has it that the software giant is not only becoming popular even more each day in the country because of its new iPhones, but it has also been selling off iPhone 5 and 5s, which are comparatively much older versions of the phone given how the new ones have been around for some time now, and this shows that the company is enjoying a great time in the markets without a lot of hassles.

This growth in China has also made the analysts in the industry think about dividend growth as well, that the tech giant can observe in the near term future and which can make things better even for the investors.