Microsoft’s earnings surge to add record $151 billion in value

Microsoft Corp.’s surge sets the software giant up for its biggest single-day market value gain ever.

The Windows software maker rose as much as 8% Wednesday after reporting strong quarterly results as corporate cloud-computing demand remained resilient. If the gains hold, the company will add $151 billion in market value, the most in the company’s history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

With tech companies rapidly growing in market value, even relatively small rallies have led to huge gains. Last year, both Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. added more than $190 billion in market value in single sessions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The software giant is poised to scale to a market capitalization of $2.2 trillion, helping it reclaim the title of the world’s second most valuable public company. Microsoft would catapult over oil giant Saudi Aramco’s $2.1 trillion value. Apple remains the largest company with a value of $2.6 trillion through Tuesday’s close.

Microsoft results, along with Alphabet Inc. earnings, that beat expectations helped ease concerns that this year’s rally in technology stocks could be overdone. Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing business saw revenue expand 31% excluding the impact of currency fluctuations, matching the average analyst projection.

Following the results, both Macquarie Research and BMO Capital Markets upgraded Microsoft to an outperform, bringing the tally of analysts with buy-equivalent recommendations to 54.

BMO’s Keith Bachman said in a note that the upgrade reflects their “higher conviction that Azure growth headwinds will moderate” by the end of the year and “AI can help support longer-term growth.”

“While the stock is not inexpensive, we think the durable growth opportunities warrant a premium valuation,” he wrote.

Shares of Microsoft briefly pared gains in premarket trading Wednesday after Britain’s antitrust watchdog blocked the company’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc., saying it would harm competition on the cloud.

Microsoft said it remains committed to the acquisition and plans to appeal the decision.