{"id":9190,"date":"2026-04-21T01:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/9190\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T01:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T01:51:12","slug":"microsofts-ai-rally-why-analysts-say-azure-capacity-copilot-are-the-next-big-move-microsoft-nasdaq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/9190\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft&#8217;s AI Rally: Why Analysts Say Azure Capacity, Copilot Are The Next Big Move &#8211; Microsoft (NASDAQ:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"block core-block\">       \u2022 Microsoft stock is building positive momentum. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/quote\/MSFT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Why is MSFT stock trading higher?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Azure Growth Hinges On AI Capacity<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">Analyst Tal Liani expects Azure growth to depend on how quickly new AI capacity comes online. Microsoft posted 38% constant-currency growth last quarter, and the analyst models about 37.5% growth for the fiscal third quarter, in line with expectations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">He notes that demand remains strong, but limited capacity continues to cap growth. Future expansions and infrastructure buildouts later in fiscal 2026 could unlock further upside. The analyst suggests the stock may need an Azure growth beat to move higher.<\/p>\n<p>Copilot Adoption Key To AI Returns<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">The analyst highlights Copilot adoption as a critical factor in proving returns on AI investments. Copilot usage stood at roughly 15 million seats, or about 3.5% of Microsoft 365 users, in the prior quarter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">He expects stronger adoption to support revenue per user growth and ease concerns about competition from other AI platforms as Microsoft expands features and integrates Copilot more deeply into its enterprise ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>Steady Core Business Supports Outlook<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">The analyst projects Microsoft 365 revenue to grow 15.1% year-over-year, alongside continued Dynamics growth and improving advertising trends at LinkedIn. He expects these segments to help drive about 11% growth across the broader business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">He maintained a Buy rating and a $500 price forecast, supported by Microsoft&#8217;s strong enterprise position, steady cash flow base, and continued demand for AI-driven services.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">Liani expects a third-quarter revenue of $81.395 billion and EPS of $4.05.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">MSFT Price Action:\u00a0Microsoft shares were up 1.83% at $427.93 at the time of publication on Friday,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/pro\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">according to Benzinga Pro data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">Photo via Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"text-sm my-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/apis?utm_source=benzinga.com&amp;utm_campaign=article-bottom\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright\">\u00a9 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"block core-block\">To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, <a href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.benzinga.com\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2022 Microsoft stock is building positive momentum. Why is MSFT stock trading higher? Azure Growth Hinges On AI&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[420,7853,7910,5893,7908,7909,5896,7911,5892,416,320,7852,5891,5899,7912,7913,7876,7914,7915],"class_list":{"0":"post-9190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-microsoft","8":"tag-azure","9":"tag-azure-copilot","10":"tag-category-analyst-ratings","11":"tag-category-news","12":"tag-category-price-target","13":"tag-category-reiteration","14":"tag-category-tech","15":"tag-category-trading-ideas","16":"tag-cms-wordpress","17":"tag-copilot","18":"tag-microsoft","19":"tag-microsoft-copilot","20":"tag-pageisbzpro-bz","21":"tag-symbol-msft","22":"tag-tag-azure","23":"tag-tag-bofa-securities","24":"tag-tag-copilot","25":"tag-tag-expert-ideas","26":"tag-tag-tal-liani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}