By Daniel Sparks, The Motley Fool
Publication Date: 2026-05-07 21:59:00
Shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) have had a difficult year so far. Even after staging a recovery from late-March lows, the stock is still down about 15% year to date as of this writing — meaningfully lagging the broader market. The slump comes despite a fiscal third-quarter report that exceeded expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
So why aren’t investors rushing back in?
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A closer look at the latest quarter suggests the market may be looking past the headline numbers and sizing up a more nuanced picture in the software giant’s cloud computing business and commercial backlog — particularly as cloud rivals Alphabet and Amazon deliver a notably different story.
So, is the stock a buy, sell, or hold?