Brian Madden Microsoft Corp MSFT-Q TOP PICK Dec 04, 2024

One of his top-performing stocks. He targets $514. Very well-run company. Boasts solid moats in enterprise software and operating systems, which ensures recurring revenue and customer retention. Azure Cloud remains second only to AWS. The valuation may be elevated, but MSFT is good now for selling some calls given volatility. Keep the calls pretty sure, writing calls around $490-495.

Hitting all-time record highs, with more upside. Still holds. His biggest exposure to technology.

Historically trades at 25x PE, but is now 37x, not cheap.

Is doing incredibly well, being the software and cloud services and gaming plays. Also, it has embraced AI strongly such as savings in call centres while increasing customer satisfaction.

He trimmed a bit yesterday. 12-month price target of $514, so it's pretty close. He had a 7.5-8% weighting and brought it down. You can also write some short-dated (1 week, perhaps 2) calls. Doesn't see any catalyst until earnings come out.

Giant cashflow generator. Great dividend grower, though dividend's not big. Making new highs. Winner in cloud, lots of opportunity with Copilot. Great business platforms generate fees. He does have a significant underweight in tech, only about 7%. Expensive, but proved it can execute. Large-cap growth is one of the strongest areas of the market.

Likes dominance in its categories.

It reports Wednesday. Wait until the CEO speak before making a move either way.