By Daniel Sparks
Publication Date: 2026-11-05 16:23:00
Microsoft (MSFT -2.02%) shares jumped nearly 7% on Wednesday, Nov. 4, as U.S. stocks rallied the day after Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections.
The stock sits near $553 as of this writing. That leaves it about 57% over its June 25 close of $352.83, and the rise took just 92 trading days.
A move like that is rare for a company worth about $4 trillion. But Microsoft has done it before. Going back through its daily closing prices to 1986, I find 13 past runs like this one. In 11 of them, the stock was up a year later, with a median one-year gain of around 33%.
It’s a solid record. But it might mean less than it seems. Microsoft stock has climbed in around 74% of all one-year periods since 1986, fast run or not. And the latest run, in July 2025, is one of the two that finished down.
Image source: Getty Images.
Most of the big years came early
Every run starts the first day Microsoft closed at least 50% over its lowest close in the past 92 trading days. I used…
