Shares in tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) have recovered some of the recent selloff triggered by AI worries but are still down 12% year-to-date. As the company prepares to release its third-quarter 2026 earnings results after market close on Wednesday, April 29, TipRanks’ Crowd Wisdom tool indicates that retail investors are still holding their heads high.
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Trade AMZN with leverageHere’s What Wall Street Expects
During the three-month period that ended on March 31, analysts expect Microsoft to have grown its revenue by 16% from a year ago to $81.3 billion. Its earnings per share are also seen jumping by roughly 17% to reach $4.06.
Microsoft operates out of Redmond, Washington, with its footprint spread across software development, cloud services, and artificial intelligence technology. It serves businesses and consumers alike, offering the Windows operating system, Office productivity suites, the Azure cloud platform, and the Copilot AI assistant, among others.
Retail Investors Bet on Microsoft Rebound
In Q2 2026, revenue from Microsoft’s Azure cloud business climbed 38%, but management noted that growth would have reached about 40% if not for capacity limitations. This, alongside worries about the tech giant’s AI capital expenditure, Copilot adoption, and strain in its relationship with startup OpenAI, has pressured Microsoft’s shares this year.
For the results coming in tomorrow, options traders expect a 7% move in either direction. However, retail investors remain Very Positive on MSFT, as the image below shows.
Over the last seven days and one month, 0.2% and 3.8% of more than 859,000 portfolios tracked on TipRanks have added MSFT to their portfolio, respectively. This compares more favorably to Microsoft’s direct rivals and Magnificent Seven peers:
- Alphabet (GOOGL) — Positive, 0.2%, 1.6%
- Amazon (AMZN) — Positive, 0.2%, 1.3%
- Meta (META) — Positive, 0.2%, 1.7%
- Apple (AAPL) — Positive, <0.1%, 1.7%
- Nvidia (NVDA) — Positive, >0.1%, 1.5%.
Is Microsoft a Buy or a Sell?
On Wall Street, analysts remain highly bullish on Microsoft’s shares and have a Strong Buy rating on the stock. This is based on 33 Buys and two Holds issued over the past three months.
In addition, the average MSFT price target of $565.77 indicates about 33% upside.
