By Sam Boughedda
Wedbush analysts raised the firm's price target on Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) to $290 from $280, keeping an Outperform rating on the stock in a note to clients on Friday.
Analysts told investors that the move to raise the price target reflects more positive recent cloud checks, with cloud deal flows remaining steady for the company.
"Midway through the March quarter, we are seeing steady cloud enterprise spending for Microsoft that has stabilized from the softness we saw in the month of December," wrote analysts.
They added that while macro uncertainty is "clearly a concern" for CIOs looking to navigate an unstable IT spending environment, many larger cloud platform deals have been given the green light for Microsoft, which is a positive so far this quarter and for 2023.
"Partners have cited cloud budgets mostly in place with some push outs that have 'stabilized' over the last month," analysts added.
"We note that with less than 50% of workloads on the cloud the transformational shift to cloud platforms remains a key IT priority for enterprises globally with Azure extremely well positioned to gain share in their enterprise backyard."