Is Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s Dividend Raise Reason to Buy?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has thrown billions of dollars at the problem, acquiring various companies that it hopes can finally give it some mobile market penetration. These efforts have failed to produce anything meaningful so far, and it’s gotten to the point that the company is simply grasping at straws. Consider Microsoft’s recent spending spree: $8.5 billion to acquire Skype in 2011, $1.2 billion the following year for social media player Yammer, and most recently, $7.2 billion for Nokia’s smartphone business.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s bread-and-butter software and services make it a cash cow. However, the future is cloudy, and the company is still carrying businesses that are woefully under-performing. Microsoft continues to bleed money in its Online Services division, which is responsible for the Bing search engine and MSN. That division booked an $8 billion operating loss in fiscal 2012.

Put simply, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) needs to demonstrate that it can remain strong in the post-PC world. As a result, while I love dividends as much as the next investor, I’m content to wait on the sidelines until the questions surrounding Microsoft’s underlying business are more satisfactorily answered.

The article Is Microsoft’s Dividend Raise Reason to Buy? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Robert Ciura owns shares of Intel. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Intel and Microsoft.

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