Bank of America Merrill Lynch: Maintains "buy" rating on Microsoft and three main focus points for third quarter performance.

Bank of America Securities published a report stating that Microsoft will announce its performance for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 after the market closes on April 29. Looking ahead to this performance, the bank believes there are three main focus points, namely the pace of Azure revenue growth; the expansion signal of Copilot paid users in the installed base of Microsoft 365; and the basic stability of non-AI business segments. The bank expects Microsoft 365 revenue to grow by 15.1% annually, Dynamics to continue gaining market share, LinkedIn's advertising business trends to gradually improve, collectively supporting a growth of 11% in productivity and business processes annually. The bank maintains its "buy" rating and $500 price target to reflect the advantages of the enterprise platform and Azure's continued growth driven by AI demand.