Microsoft gains from online focus

Article Excerpt

MICROSOFT CORP. $65 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 7.7 billion; Market cap: $500.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.9; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.microsoft.com) earned $6.5 billion in its fiscal 2017 second quarter, ended December 31, 2016. That’s up 6.0% from $6.1 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings gained 9.2%, to $0.83 from $0.76. Revenue rose 2.2%, to $26.1 billion from $25.5 billion. The company continues to benefit from its move to sell more its software as an online subscription service. Sales of the Microsoft Office 365 suite of business programs jumped 47% in the quarter. The stock is up 20% in the past year, and now trades at 21.8 times its projected fiscal 2017 earnings of $2.98 a share. Microsoft continues to spend a high 13% of its revenue on developing new products, so it’s more profitable than it seems. Microsoft is a buy. buy…