Stifel lifts Microsoft to Buy, says tech giant ’getting back on track’

Microsoft (MSFT) stock rose 0.8% in pre-market trading to $502.01. BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski reiterated a $549 price target, citing Azure's pricing trajectory. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will attend a White House state dinner, which investors view positively. Goldman Sachs maintains a Buy rating and $640 target. The broader market had little impact, with the move driven by company-specific sentiment.

Microsoft (MSFT) increased its dividend by 8% and is expanding AI and cloud partnerships. It expects Q1 2027 earnings of $4.69 per share, up 13.56% YoY. Analysts anticipate double-digit earnings growth, with price targets ranging from $530 to $625.

Irish tax filings show Apple and Microsoft accounted for 98% of €20.1B in corporate tax payments from 25 multinationals. Accenture, Bank of America, and Walgreens Boots Alliance also paid significant sums. The data covers a 19-month period ending January 2026, with total Irish corporation tax receipts at €60B. EU rules mandate disclosures for firms with global revenues over €750M.

IonQ (IONQ) rose 12.17% after hours to $45.70 after announcing a real-time quantum error correction decoder. D-Wave (QBTS) and Rigetti (RGTI) also gained, while Xanadu (XNDU) recovered from a 21.57% drop. IonQ also secured a hardware agreement with SDT, Inc. Analysts remain optimistic ahead of the Quantum World Congress.

Nscale Limited, an AI infrastructure company, filed for an IPO, revealing $103B in total contract value, with 85% from Microsoft and Anthropic. Microsoft's deals total $43.8B, while Anthropic's $44.6B deal has milestones. Nscale reported a $1.02B net loss for H1 2026, with $140.6M in revenue. Nvidia is a key partner and investor.

LG CNS will provide Microsoft 365 and Copilot AI services to LG Electronics under a 257.8 billion won, five-year contract. The deal represents 4.2% of LG CNS's 2022 revenue. LG Group and Microsoft also agreed to expand cooperation in AI and cloud services.