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Microsoft (MSFT)’s Cloud Comeback: Is Azure Back on Top?

We recently published a list of 10 Stocks Wall Street is Talking About These Days. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other stocks Wall Street is talking about these days.

Gene Muster from Deepwater Asset Management said in a recent interview with CNBC that investors should take a “targeted” approach while investing in major tech companies and look for “pockets” of opportunities.

“I think that when you answer the question more holistically, there’s still—if you look at, uh, we looked at 20 different companies, tech companies, and their reporting season and graded each of them—and of the six Mag Seven, five of the six we gave an A grade, and so there’s still this outperformance that you’re seeing with the fundamentals on these companies, but that doesn’t mean that the best opportunities to invest is necessarily with them, and so again, more of a targeted approach.”

Munster also talked about some major tech companies and said he believes Jensen Huang’s AI chip giant is still “cheap” when it comes to its stock price. However, the analyst advised investors to look for smaller companies:

“You have to be uh strategic in terms of what you’re buying. If you wanted to buy a basket, I would buy a basket of smaller tech companies, sub 500 billion dollars, and focus on those. It’s probably where your bigger outperformance is.”

For this article, we picked 10 stocks currently making moves on Wall Street. With each stock, we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).

READ ALSO 7 Best Stocks to Buy For Long-Term and 8 Cheap Jim Cramer Stocks to Invest In

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 279

Dan Niles from Niles Investment said in a latest program on CNBC that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s results showed the company’s Cloud business has “done well.”

“Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)—remember, this is the first time in the last four quarters that Azure, which is their cloud business, has actually done well. It disappointed the prior three quarters, and their Azure growth actually accelerated from 31% to 33% growth year-over-year. You look at Google Cloud or you look at Amazon Web Services—their growth actually decelerated by 2% each. And Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) this year is actually getting their spending under control, and I think there’s a reason why this is the best performer out of the Mag 7 so far this year. Last year, they were the biggest spender and ramped it up the fastest. There’s a reason they were the worst performer of the Mag 7 last year. So I think that one’s interesting.”

Mar Vista U.S. Quality Select Strategy stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q1 2025 investor letter:

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported strong bookings, highlighted by an accelerating remaining performance obligation of nearly $300 billion, representing 36% year-over-year growth, as well as healthy cloud revenue growth of 21% year-over-year. Despite this solid performance, MSFT stock came under pressure as Azure revenue growth, at 31% year-over-year, came in at the low end of expectations. Additionally, guidance for the March quarter forecasted Azure revenue growth of 31% to 32%, reflecting a slowdown in non-AI related Azure growth.

We continue to believe Microsoft is well-positioned to gain market share as organizations of all sizes pivot toward a digital-first future and adopt generative AI solutions. With a strong presence in the enterprise and a comprehensive portfolio spanning infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS), Microsoft is a mission-critical IT provider across industries.

The company is executing effectively against a significant market opportunity by delivering a roadmap for digital transformation and the adoption of innovative AI tools like ChatGPT. This helps businesses boost productivity while reducing costs. Consequently, we expect Microsoft’s solutions to remain resilient even in a challenging macroeconomic environment, supporting low double-digit intrinsic value growth over our investment horizon.”

Overall, MSFT ranks 1st on our list of stocks Wall Street is talking about these days. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT our conviction lies in the belief that under the radar AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

The $250 Trillion AI Hype is Real. A few years from now, you’ll probably wish you’d bought this stock.

Dr. Inan Dogan

Dr. Ian Dogan

Co-Founder and Research Director at Insider Monkey

When Jeff Bezos said that one breakthrough technology would shape Amazon’s destiny, even Wall Street’s biggest analysts were caught off guard.

Fast forward a year and Amazon’s new CEO Andy Jassy described generative AI as a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that is already being used across Amazon to reinvent customer experiences.

At the 8th Future Investment Initiative conference, Elon Musk predicted that by 2040 there would be at least 10 billion humanoid robots, with each priced between $20,000 and $25,000.

Do the math. According to Musk, this technology could be worth $250 trillion by 2040.

Put another way, that’s roughly equal to:

  • 175 Teslas
  • 107 Amazons
  • 140 Metas
  • 84 Googles
  • 65 Microsofts
  • And 55 Nvidias

And here’s the wild part — this $250 trillion wave isn’t tied to one company, but to an entire ecosystem of AI innovators set to reshape the global economy.

It’s a leap so massive, it could reshape how businesses, governments, and consumers operate worldwide.

Even if that $250 trillion figure sounds ambitious, major firms like PwC and McKinsey still see AI unlocking multi-trillion-dollar potential.

How could anything be worth that much?

The answer lies in a breakthrough so powerful it’s redefining how humanity works, learns, and creates.

And this breakthrough has already set off a frenzy among hedge funds and Wall Street’s top investors.

What most investors don’t realize is that one under-owned company holds the key to this $250 trillion revolution.

In fact, Verge argues this company’s supercheap AI technology should concern rivals.

Before I reveal the details, let’s talk about how some of the richest people on the planet are positioning themselves.

  • Bill Gates sees artificial intelligence as the “biggest technological advance in my lifetime,” more transformative than the internet or personal computer, capable of improving healthcare, education, and addressing climate change.
  • Larry Ellison — through Oracle, is spending billions on Nvidia chips and partnering with Cohere to embed generative AI across Oracle’s cloud and apps.
  • Warren Buffett — not known for tech hype — says this breakthrough could have a ‘hugely beneficial social impact.

When billionaires from Silicon Valley to Wall Street line up behind the same idea — you know it’s worth paying attention to.

Even as we admire what Tesla, Nvidia, Alphabet, and Microsoft have built, we believe an even greater opportunity lies elsewhere…

But the real story isn’t Nvidia — it’s a much smaller company quietly improving the critical technology that makes this entire revolution possible.

And judging by what I’m hearing from both Silicon Valley insiders and Wall Street veterans…

This prediction might not be bold at all:

A few years from now, you’ll wish you’d owned this stock.

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Dr. Inan Dogan

Dr. Ian Dogan

Co-Founder and Research Director at Insider Monkey

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Today, we have identified a nearly identical pattern in a digital-first giant trading at $3.

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