Microsoft (MSFT) stock has fallen 4.9% over the past week, slipped 3.1% over the last month, and is down 5.2% over the past year. Wall Street’s analysts are strongly bullish, forecasting a move toward a 12‑month average price target of $586.41 from a last close of $372.74.
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Tal Liani (BofA Securities) has reinstated coverage on Microsoft with a Buy rating and a $500 price target, implying roughly 31% upside from a reference price of $383. He argues Microsoft sits at the center of the AI supercycle, with durable multi‑year growth expected across both cloud services and AI‑driven software.
The analyst highlights Microsoft’s edge in combining AI infrastructure and applications, using Azure as the compute and data foundation for enterprise AI workloads. At the same time, core products like 365, Dynamics, Github, and Windows embed AI into everyday tasks, helping drive greater customer adoption and consumption.
Liani’s report focuses on three key debates for investors: how durable Microsoft’s AI‑driven backlog is under current supply constraints, what the deep partnership with OpenAI means strategically and financially, and whether today’s AI boom is a bubble or a lasting shift that strengthens Microsoft’s software advantage. He presents both bull and bear cases but ultimately leans positive on the stock’s risk‑reward profile.
His $500 target is based on a 24x CY27E P/E multiple, a premium to peers given expectations for 15‑17% revenue growth and 24‑28% expansion in Intelligent Cloud as AI scales. This N‑star analyst ranks 1058 out of 12068 on TipRanks, with a 55.27% success rate and an 8.3% average return per rating. Never miss a stock rating. Find all the latest ratings on TipRanks’ Top Wall Street Analysts page.