By David Jagielski, CPA
Publication Date: 2026-05-04 18:30:00
Shares of Microsoft (MSFT 0.29%) have been doing poorly this year as investors have become concerned about both its high valuation and a slowing growth rate in its cloud business, Azure. With all eyes on heightened artificial intelligence (AI) expenditure, expectations may be high that Azure should be flourishing. And with that not proving to be the case when the company posted its earnings numbers back in January, the stock proceeded to crash.
Microsoft recently released its latest quarterly numbers, which told a different story and showed Azure’s growth rate coming in better than what analysts expected. Could this be the catalyst the stock needs to go on a prolonged rally?
Image source: Getty Images.
Azure’s growth gets back to 40%
Last week, Microsoft reported its latest earnings numbers, covering the first three months of 2026, which came in a bit better than expected, particularly when it comes to Azure. That segment, which also includes other cloud services, rose by 40% for…
