Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment offers Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Security and Compliance, and Skype for Business, as well as related Client Access Licenses (CAL); Skype, Outlook.com, OneDrive, and LinkedIn; and Dynamics 365, a set of cloud-based and on-premises business solutions for organizations and enterprise divisions. Its Intelligent Cloud segment licenses SQL, Windows Servers, Visual Studio, System Center, and related CALs; GitHub that provides a collaboration platform and code hosting service for developers; and Azure, a cloud platform. It also offers support services and Microsoft consulting services to assist customers in developing, deploying, and managing Microsoft server and desktop solutions; and training and certification on Microsoft products. Its More Personal Computing segment provides Windows original equipment manufacturer (OEM) licensing and other non-volume licensing of the Windows operating system; Windows Commercial, such as volume licensing of the Windows operating system, Windows cloud services, and other Windows commercial offerings; patent licensing; Windows Internet of Things; and MSN advertising. It also offers Surface, PC accessories, PCs, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, and other devices; Gaming, including Xbox hardware, and Xbox content and services; video games and third-party video game royalties; and Search, including Bing and Microsoft advertising. It sells its products through OEMs, distributors, and resellers; and directly through digital marketplaces, online stores, and retail stores. It has collaborations with Dynatrace, Inc., Morgan Stanley, Micro Focus, WPP plc, ACI Worldwide, Inc., and iCIMS, Inc., as well as strategic relationships with Avaya Holdings Corp. and wejo Limited. Microsoft Corporation was founded in 1975 and is based in Redmond, Washington. The company is publicly listed on NASDAQ under the ticker “MSFT”
Our considerations
Microsoft is the second largest company in the United States by market capitalization and one of the most profitable and healthiest companies to date. The tech company is one of the few to have an AAA rating, even higher than other giants like Apple and Alphabet, which have an AA+ rating. Microsoft is present in many markets, and it presents top-range products in all of these.
Surely, the most interesting and profitable one is the Intelligent Cloud sector, driven by Azure, which has had a quarterly revenue growth above 50% in the last few ones. Azure is currently the second player in Cloud services, just after Amazon Web Services. It has a very strong presence among larger businesses, indeed more than 95% of Fortune 500 companies use Azure, and therefore it becomes difficult to part with such a fundamental service. Microsoft has a strong presence in social media thanks to the acquisition of LinkedIn, which is the most important networking platform globally, and offers services to a different target with respect to platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat or Pinterest: therefore, having no competitors of its kind it presents a huge opportunity.
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