Microsoft vs. Salesforce: One Software Stock Remains a Top Pick, the Other Has Something to Prove, Says RBC

Cerebras (CBRS) announced a cloud partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) during its Q3 earnings call, adding to prior deals with AWS (AMZN) and Oracle (ORCL). CEO Andrew Feldman stated these agreements, along with customer growth, led to raised Q4 guidance and a forecast of revenue tripling by 2027 with expanding gross margins.

Microsoft apologized for a global outage lasting over 12 hours, attributing it to a technical issue, not a cyberattack. Experts warn of vulnerabilities from reliance on few tech providers. The outage is one of Microsoft's longest and the second this year. Australian businesses may face billions in losses. (MSFT)

Cerebras reported Q3 core revenue of $230.9M, exceeding estimates of $214.7M, with adjusted earnings of 12 cents per share. The company forecast Q4 revenue between $310M-$330M, above the $271M consensus. A new Microsoft partnership is expected to contribute revenue starting Q1 2027, according to CNBC.

Jim Cramer's charitable trust holds Salesforce (CRM), which reported a 21-fold increase in usage of its AI assistant, Agentforce Coworker. The company's fiscal Q2 revenue rose 11% to $11.3B, with $33.5B in future revenue under contract. Cramer has adjusted the trust's portfolio, increasing cash reserves and reducing exposure to data centers.

Microsoft reported gradual restoration of its Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook, Teams, and Copilot, after a global outage disrupted email and other tools for users worldwide. The company is investigating the cause but does not believe it was a cyberattack. According to the Anderson Economic Group, the outage may have caused productivity losses nearing $7 billion.

Microsoft 365 suffered a 24-hour outage affecting 74 countries, disrupting services for 51 million workers on Friday alone. Economists estimate productivity losses at $7 billion to $16 billion. Microsoft attributed the outage to a network upgrade. The company's shares fell 0.4% in early trading. Microsoft has filed patents for distributing AI workloads across user devices.