Microsoft, overtaking Apple was in the air and now it will serve them. During the Jan. 11 session, the software, cloud and artificial intelligence company is once again the largest capitalized company in the world thanks to a slight increase in the face of a decline in Cupertino shares. Beat Apple for the first time since the end of 2021.
With a value of about $2.9 trillion, Microsoft can surpass Apple’s $2.86 billion, according to Dow Jones market data. If held at the end of the session, Microsoft’s margin would end a nearly 540-day streak of world-leading deals in the US market.
On the other hand, Microsoft shares are down around 65% from their rally in the last twelve months, while Apple has gained “only” 39%.
Cupertino has had an uninspiring start to the year. Foxconn, one of the main suppliers, is in the doldrums and the outlook for Chinese consumption is certainly not bright, even as the Asian economy remains caught between a real estate crisis and attempts to tighten economic sectors such as gaming. The NYT wrote that there could be an antitrust problem with the iPhone company. As if that wasn’t enough, some analysts downgraded Apple’s stock.
A different environment for Microsoft, which is riding a wave of investments towards artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence, Europe also sheds light on Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI
by Filippo Santelli
The market is betting that artificial intelligence will create new revenue for its software, thanks in part to a big investment in OpenAi, the company that developed ChatGpt. Microsoft is also driven by the continued growth of its cloud computing division, while its main rivals such as Amazon and Google have seen a gradual slowdown in revenue growth.
Microsoft’s revenue in the latest quarter, which ended in December, is expected to rise to about $61 billion; that would be an increase of about 16% over the previous year.
Apple nevertheless became the first company in the world to surpass $3 trillion in market capitalization last year, but has since experienced months of disappointing results and weak sales. Now investors and analysts fear that demand will not grow significantly again in 2024. Wall Street expects revenue of $118 billion in the quarter ending in December, up less than 1% from a year earlier.