Microsoft Attracts Buyers Ahead of April 29 Earnings

Microsoft shares closed at $425.69 on April 22, recovering from a 22 percent drop from its all-time high. The stock trades at roughly 26 times earnings against a five-year average of 32.9 times, drawing institutional buyers who see the valuation gap as unjustified given Azure's 39 percent year-on-year growth. Investors are focused on the April 29 earnings call, where Microsoft must address uncertainty around OpenAI's reduced computing spend projections and their impact on its $625 billion order backlog. Analysts also await updates on Copilot adoption and agentic AI strategy, which Microsoft positions as the backbone of enterprise workflow automation.