In the latest market close, Microsoft (MSFT) reached $396.98, with a +1.13% movement compared to the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.59%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 1.39%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 1.63%.

Shares of the software maker have depreciated by 5.41% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 3.43% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.42%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Microsoft in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $3.20, reflecting an 8.84% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $68.37 billion, up 10.52% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $13.08 per share and a revenue of $276.19 billion, demonstrating changes of +10.85% and +12.67%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Microsoft. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.47% higher within the past month. Microsoft is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Microsoft has a Forward P/E ratio of 30.01 right now. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 27.73.

We can additionally observe that MSFT currently boasts a PEG ratio of 2.08. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. MSFT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.11 as of yesterday's close.

The Computer - Software industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, positioning it in the bottom 34% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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