Microsoft Stock Rises as $678 Billion Backlog Supports AI Spending

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), the enterprise-software, cloud and artificial-intelligence giant, gained approximately 0.6% to $484.30 Wednesday morning as falling Treasury yields pulled buyers back into mega-cap technology. But forget the small bounce for a second. The bigger Microsoft story is sitting underneath the stock: Azure is ripping higher, AI demand is pouring in, and customers have already committed hundreds of billions of dollars to Microsoft’s ecosystem.

The numbers are huge. Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90 billion, up 18%, while operating income jumped 18% to $40.6 billion. Azure and other cloud-services revenue surged 43%, annual Azure revenue blasted through $100 billion for the first time, and commercial remaining performance obligations exploded 84% to $678 billion. That $678 billion is the number that matters. Microsoft is not spending aggressively on AI infrastructure while waiting…