Microsoft (MSFT) stock climbed on Wednesday alongside recent rumors of a strategy change at video game subsidiary Xbox. According to recent insider reports, Xbox is considering dropping its multi-console release strategy and returning to exclusive releases for its video game consoles. This would follow years of financial trouble for the video game company that forced it to try new methods to generate revenue.
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If the latest rumors are true, Microsoft hasn’t benefited enough from its multi-console strategy to keep it up. This makes sense as its release of in-house games on rival consoles, such as Sony’s (SONY) PlayStation 5, have diminished the value of the Xbox brand.
Fortunately, Xbox has plenty of development studios under its control. A spree of acquisitions over the past several years has brought Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda, Call of Duty maker Activision, and World of Warcraft developer Blizzard under its control. With these purchases came a hefty number of outstanding IPs. If Microsoft takes these series exclusive, it could make a compelling argument for gamers to buy Xbox consoles again.
Microsoft Stock Movement Today
Microsoft stock was up 3.54% on Wednesday, but was still down 15.7% year-to-date. However, the stock was still up 5.79% over the past 12 months.
MSFT stock trading activity today was muted, as some 15 million shares changed hands, which is roughly half the company’s three-month average daily trading volume.
Is Microsoft Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, the analysts’ consensus rating for Microsoft is Strong Buy, based on 35 Buy and three Hold ratings over the past three months. With that comes an average MSFT stock price target of $573.41, representing a potential 40.9% upside for the shares.
