Back in December of 2000, and under the leadership of former CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s stocks famously took a nose dive for the worst, along with most of the rest of tech stocks. Thankfully, since then, the company has seen many changes, and under the new management of Satya Nadella, shares in Microsoft have nearly doubled since January 2013. It is now being predicted that Microsoft stocks could possibly reach their December 1999 record.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the prediction is being fueled by Microsoft’s success with cloud interests, which have helped the company offset weaknesses tied to the PC industry. Overall, according to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft’s “intelligent cloud” made up 28% of the company’s revenue in the second half of last year, up 23% from 2014. Ultimately, though, the stock is less than 7% short from reclaiming its December 1999 record, from the height of the tech bubble.
Microsoft’s first quarter results are due in later today, and as per the Wall Street Journal, analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of 64 cents a share, up 4% from a year ago. Meanwhile, revenue is estimated to have increased by 2% to $22 billion for the quarter.
