Technology giant Microsoft (MSFT) has been hit by major outages of its Azure cloud computing and 365 services on Oct. 29, just hours before the company is scheduled to issue its latest financial results.
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Users on social media worldwide are reporting problems accessing Microsoft sites and services, and the company’s website was down at noon. Management at Microsoft acknowledged on social media that issues are occurring with both Azure and 365 ahead of the company’s earnings.
“We’re investigating an issue impacting several Azure services,” said Microsoft, adding that “customers may experience issues when accessing services. Updates are provided via the Azure status… More information will be provided within 60 minutes or sooner.”
Other Outages
The problems at Microsoft come a week after rival Amazon Web Services (AMZN) reported a major outage that temporarily took down its cloud-computing infrastructure and numerous websites associated with the e-commerce company. On Oct. 20, Amazon Web Services experienced “increased error rates” for customers when trying to access the popular cloud portal.
Amazon Web Services leads in cloud infrastructure with a 32% share of the market. Microsoft’s Azure is second at 23%, followed by Google’s (GOOGL) cloud unit at 10%. Azure and Google Cloud have been growing at a fast clip in recent years, driven by a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.
Is MSFT Stock a Buy?
Microsoft’s stock has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 35 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 34 Buy and one Hold recommendations issued in the last three months. The average price target on MSFT stock of $628.05 implies 22.07% upside from current levels.
