Shares of Microsoft Corp. tacked on 1% in morning trade, after Goldman Sachs turned bullish on the technology giant, citing accelerating growth in the companies cloud business. Analyst Heather Bellini raised her rating to buy, after being at neutral since Dec. 18. She raised her stock price target to $68, which is 13% above current levels, from $60. Bellini said Microsoft’s Azure is the number two market share vendor in the cloud space, and has at least doubled in size year-over-year in eight of the last 10 quarters. “With a large Microsoft customer base and strong C-level relationships, we believe Azure can continue to grow revenue and improve margins over time,” Bellini wrote in a note to clients. The stock is still down 0.3% since the election and down 1.2% from its Oct. 24 record close of $61. It has climbed 8.6% year to date, while the SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF has rallied 10% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 8.4%.
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