Disclosure and Affiliations - Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned [1] - The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft [1] - The Motley Fool recommends long January 2026 $395 calls and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft [1] - Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services [1]

Microsoft holds quarterly earnings calls to discuss the company's financial performance.In 2024, earnings calls touched on topics like the Activision Blizzard acquisition, AI, and layoffs.Here's what to know about Microsoft's revenues, profits, and more.Information about Microsoft's earnings is released publicly at the end of each quarter of the fiscal year. For Microsoft, this is done during an earnings call usually hosted by CEO Satya Nadella.AD An earnings call consists of company executives laying out ...

Microsoft's AI Infrastructure Investment - Microsoft plans to invest $80 billion in building data centers in fiscal 2025 to support AI development and usage [1] - Over half of the AI infrastructure investment will be deployed in the United States [1] - The company aims to leverage this investment to capitalize on the "golden opportunity for American AI" [1] AI Infrastructure Development and Economic Impact - Data centers are being constructed by various industries, including construction firms, steel manufacturers, and companies specializing in electricity and liquid cooling [2] - The development of AI infrastructure relies heavily on skilled labor, such as electricians and pipefitters, including union members [2] - AI has become a foundational element for modern technology companies, moving beyond hype and transforming the tech industry [3] AI Chip Demand and Market Impact - Demand for AI chips significantly boosted Nvidia's market capitalization, which increased from $1.2 trillion at the end of 2023 to $3.28 trillion at the end of 2024 [3] Workforce Training and AI Adoption - Microsoft plans to train 2.5 million Americans with AI skills to facilitate widespread AI adoption [4] - AI is expected to disrupt the economy and displace some jobs, but it will also create new opportunities that outweigh the challenges [5] Global AI Strategy and Export Control - The U S needs to focus on exporting AI technology to allies and friends worldwide to advance "American AI" [5] - The U S should balance strong security protections for AI components with a pragmatic export control policy to support American AI companies in the global market [6][7] - Heavy-handed regulations could slow the private sector, and the U S should instead adopt policies that allow rapid expansion and reliable supply to allied countries [7]

Key Takeaways - Microsoft plans to spend approximately $80 billion on data centers to support artificial intelligence in the current fiscal year [2] - More than half of the $80 billion investment will be allocated within the United States [3] - The U S is leading the global AI race due to private capital investments and innovations by American companies [4] Industry and Company Insights - The U S tech industry is experiencing a "world-changing" technology boom driven by collaboration among tech companies, chip suppliers, and software developers in AI [3] - American tech companies are investing trillions into data centers that AI relies on and exploring nuclear energy as a power source [3] - Microsoft emphasizes the importance of government, education, and non-profit sectors in advancing AI technology [5] Public Policy and Regulation - Microsoft urges the Trump Administration to increase AI research funding and develop a national "talent strategy" to train Americans in AI [5] - The company highlights the need for balanced AI regulations to support American firms' competitiveness abroad, especially against Chinese rivals [5] - The U S public policy priority should be to ensure the private sector can continue to advance without being hindered by heavy-handed regulations [6]

Microsoft's AI Investment Strategy - Microsoft has allocated $80 billion in fiscal 2025 to build AI-enabled data centers, with over half of the investment focused in the United States [1] - The data centers are designed to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications globally [1] - Microsoft's fiscal year 2025 ends in June [1] AI's Economic Impact and Global Leadership - AI is expected to drive innovation and boost productivity across all economic sectors, positioning the United States at the forefront of this technological wave [2] - Microsoft emphasizes the importance of leveraging US strengths and international partnerships to maintain leadership in AI [2] Microsoft's AI Infrastructure Developments - Microsoft and OpenAI were in discussions in April regarding the construction of a $100 billion AI supercomputer facility named Stargate [2] - Microsoft later referred to OpenAI as a "competitor" in an SEC filing, indicating a shift in their relationship [2] Challenges in AI Infrastructure - The increasing electricity demand from AI operations is expected to lead to potential power shortages for data centers in the coming years [3]

Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, Brad Smith, participates in the first day of Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 12, 2024. The largest technology conference in the world this year has 71,528 attendees from 153 countries and 3,050 companies, with AI emerging as the most represented industry. (Photo by Rita Franca/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on the construction of data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads, the company said i ...

Company Performance - Shares of Rezolve Ai (RZLV) climbed for a second straight day, rising 8% over the past two sessions after the company released its 2025 roadmap [1][3] Strategic Partnerships - Rezolve Ai plans to deepen its partnerships with Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google [1][3] - The company aims to expand its footprint in the $30 trillion global retail consumer market through these partnerships [2] - Microsoft's Azure Marketplace will offer Rezolve Ai's Brain Suite, and Google Cloud will resell Brain Suite to retailers [2] - The Google Cloud sales channel is expected to generate over 50% of Rezolve Ai's forecasted revenues over the next several years [2] Product Development - Rezolve Ai's Brain Suite includes personalized shopping assistants and AI-powered marketing tools designed to enable seamless, personalized shopping experiences for retailers worldwide [2][3] - The company reached deals with Microsoft and Google last year to sell its Brain Suite digital retail software [3]

The Juniper Networks logo appears on a smartphone screen in this illustration photo in Reno, United ... [+] States, on December 27, 2024. (Photo by Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)NurPhoto via Getty ImagesJuniper Networks, a company that sells networking products, including routers, switches, network management software, network security products, and software-defined networking technology has gained close to 27% in 2024 while its peer Microsoft’s stock (NASDAQ: MSFT) is up about 14% over the same per ...

Cloud Computing Growth - Cloud computing has been a major growth area driven by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), with organizations leveraging services from companies like Amazon and Microsoft to build AI models and applications [2] - Amazon Web Services (AWS) is Amazon's most profitable segment, generating $36.4 billion in operating income over the trailing 12 months, compared to $24.3 billion from its North American and international retail operations [3] - AWS holds a 31% market share in cloud computing, ahead of Microsoft Azure's 20% share, with AWS revenue growing 19% and operating income surging 49% last quarter, driven by triple-digit growth in AI-related revenue [4] Amazon's AI and Cloud Strategy - Amazon is leveraging AI in AWS through services like Bedrock and SageMaker, offering foundational AI models and tools for building and training AI applications [5] - The company has developed custom AI chips, Graviton and Trainium, specifically for training large language models (LLMs) and AI inference, with notable customers including Apple, Anthropic, and SAP [6] - Amazon's North American retail sales grew 9% last quarter, while international sales rose 12%, with AI and robotics being used to improve warehouse and logistics efficiency [9] - Amazon's higher-margin sponsored ad business saw strong growth, with North American operating income jumping 33% to $5.7 billion and international operating income reaching $1.3 billion, compared to a loss a year ago [10] Microsoft's AI and Cloud Strategy - Microsoft Azure's revenue grew 33% last quarter, driven by increased usage of AI services, including OpenAI, which doubled in usage as customers moved apps from test to production [7] - Azure's AI capabilities are also boosting usage of its data and analytics services, such as Azure Cosmos DB and Azure SQL DB [7] - Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure to meet demand, forecasting Azure revenue growth of 31% to 32% in constant currency for the fiscal second quarter, with further acceleration expected in the second half of the fiscal year [8] - Microsoft's Copilot 365 AI agents present a significant growth opportunity, with a $30 per enterprise user per month pricing model, enhancing productivity tools like Excel with natural language prompts [12] Beyond Cloud Computing - Amazon remains the world's largest e-commerce and logistics company, with additional businesses like Prime Video streaming [9] - Microsoft dominates workplace productivity tools with its Office 365 suite, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and also owns businesses like LinkedIn, Xbox, and GitHub [11][12] Valuation and Growth Comparison - Amazon trades at a forward P/E ratio of just under 36 times next year's analyst estimates (ending December 2025), while Microsoft trades at just under 32.5 times this year's analyst estimates (ending June 2025) [13] - Microsoft is growing revenue faster, with a 16% increase last quarter compared to Amazon's 11% growth [13] - Microsoft is seen as the cheaper stock with faster revenue growth and significant potential in its AI copilot offerings, making it slightly preferred over Amazon for 2025 [14]

The most recent trading session ended with Microsoft (MSFT) standing at $424.83, reflecting a -1.32% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.07% loss on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.97%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.19%.The software maker's shares have seen an increase of 1.67% over the last month, not keeping up with the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.8% and outstripping the S&P 500's loss of 0.36%.Inve ...