Tech stocks offer growth and steady income

Article Excerpt

These two tech giants are hitting new highs thanks to investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. That should spur their earnings, and your dividends. MICROSOFT CORP. $429 is a buy. The software giant (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; High-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 7.4 billion; Market cap: $3.2 trillion; Dividend yield: 0.7%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.microsoft.com) last raised your quarterly dividend by 10.3% in December 2023, to $0.75 a share from $0.68. The new annual rate of $3.00 yields 0.7%. Microsoft continues to benefit from strong demand for its Azure cloud computing service and its artificial intelligence software tools. The company’s revenue in its fiscal 2024 third quarter, ended March 31, 2024, rose 17.0%, to $61.86 billion from $52.86 billion a year earlier. All three of Microsoft’s divisions reported revenue gains: Intelligent Cloud, up 21.0%; Productivity and Business Processes, up 11.7%; and More Personal Computing, up 17.5%. Earnings in the quarter also jumped 19.9%, to $21.94 billion, or $2.94 a share, from…