Daijiworld Media Network – New York
New York, Jul 31: Microsoft Corp. has surged past a historic milestone, becoming the world’s second company to reach a $4 trillion market valuation, driven by stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and robust growth in its cloud business.
The tech giant’s shares soared as much as 8.2% in premarket trading on Thursday, lifting its market cap to an astounding $4.1 trillion. This comes just weeks after Nvidia Corp. became the first company to touch the landmark figure.
"Microsoft is getting the recognition it deserves because it is the operating system for business," said Kim Forrest, CIO at Bokeh Capital Partners LLC. "This quarter’s results point to an even better position for Microsoft because, like Nvidia, there appear to be no substitutes."
The company's latest earnings underscored its leadership in the ongoing artificial intelligence revolution. Its Azure cloud platform posted a 39% surge in sales, smashing analyst expectations of 34%. The cloud and AI-driven performance further cemented Microsoft’s role at the forefront of tech innovation.
On an investor call, CFO Amy Hood projected capital expenditures to exceed $30 billion in the upcoming quarter, with full-year revenue growth expected in the double digits. Azure is forecast to grow 37% in Q1, again outpacing Wall Street estimates.
Investors are also embracing high AI-related spending across the board. Meta Platforms Inc., for instance, raised its capital expenditure forecast for 2025 and hinted at significant spending into 2026. Its shares leapt as much as 13%, potentially adding $223 billion in a single day—its biggest single-day market value addition ever.
Microsoft and Meta are now the second and third-best performers among the elite “Magnificent Seven” mega-cap tech stocks this year. Microsoft’s stock, which had underperformed its peers earlier, rebounded sharply, rallying more than 50% from its April lows amid fears over AI competition and Azure’s pace of growth.
Wall Street remains overwhelmingly bullish on Microsoft: 68 of 72 analysts covering the stock rate it a ‘buy,’ according to Bloomberg data.