Microsoft Stock Trending as Analysts Double Down

(MSFT) stock has risen 6.86% over the past twelve months, even as it slipped 1.06% in the last week and 6.27% over the past month. Despite this recent pullback, Wall Street’s analysts are strongly bullish, with a 12‑month consensus price target of $630.32 versus the last closing price of $454.52. That target implies meaningful upside over the coming year, supported by expectations that Microsoft’s cloud and AI businesses will continue to drive growth.

The Street’s overall view is captured in a Strong Buy consensus rating, signaling that most covering analysts see the recent weakness as an opportunity rather than a warning sign. The gap between the current price and the average target suggests that many experts believe Microsoft’s fundamentals, especially in cloud and artificial intelligence, are not yet fully reflected in the share price. Investors watching the name may see this as a classic case of short‑term volatility against a longer‑term growth story.

One of the latest voices weighing in is Derrick Wood, who reiterated his Buy rating on Microsoft on January 20, 2026, and set a price target of $625.00. Wood’s target sits close to the Street’s average and points to substantial upside from current levels. He expects stable but solid growth from Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, and believes the company is well positioned to capture rising AI workloads despite some near‑term constraints.

Wood’s 2Q preview points to roughly 37% constant‑currency Azure growth, with potential for about 2 percentage points of upside, echoing last quarter’s performance. He notes strong demand for GPU and CPU infrastructure, robust customer spending intentions in the cloud, and survey data that place Microsoft as the number‑one destination for new AI budgets—76% of respondents plan to allocate AI spending to Microsoft, ahead of both Google Cloud and AWS. While he thinks capacity constraints may keep Azure growth from re‑accelerating immediately, he sees a path to 40%+ growth in the second half of 2026 as new capacity comes online, which could unlock a stronger move in the stock.

At the same time, Wood acknowledges that the shares have faced pressure—down about 15% since the last quarterly print—and suspects they could remain range‑bound until investors see clear signs of faster Azure growth. Still, he highlights bullish indicators such as Microsoft’s active data‑center leasing and a major $250 billion OpenAI‑related contract that should drive a big jump in remaining performance obligations, even if it doesn’t immediately move the stock. Wood, who ranks 2,332 out of 11,984 analysts on TipRanks with a 47.78% success rate and a 5.10% average return per rating, remains constructive on Microsoft’s medium‑term opportunity in AI and cloud wallet capture. Never miss a stock rating. Find all the latest ratings on TipRanks’ Top Wall Street Analysts page.