Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is engaged in developing, licensing and supporting a range of software products and services while designing and selling hardware through its five segments. The stock is currently trading around $46.84 closer to the upper end of its 52 week range of $40.12-$50.04. The stock has been under performing the market rising 0.73% year to date. MSFT is scheduled to report earnings after the bell today, and the stock is down $0.05 or 0.10% on the session ahead of the close.
Over the past 12 quarters MSFT has rallied on earnings day 8 times with an average move of 4.56%. The stock appears bullish on a chart going into the release having traded in the Ichimoku Cloud and broken through the top for the past months since mid-June on the daily bars. Over the past 12 quarters MSFT has rallied from earnings to the nearest options expiration 7 times with an average move of 5.01%. The stock looks as if it could rip to the upside in today’s session following the past months trend. Investors have seen favorable earnings revisions which is usually a foreshadow of favorable earnings estimates. Microsoft Corporation also had news about plans for a restructure. The recent purchase of Nokia’s smartphone arm and cut of 18,000 jobs by the new CEO Sataya Nadella may lead to greater profit margins for the company.
The options market is currently implying a move of around $2.45 or 5.2% in MSFT by this Friday’s close giving us targets of $44.39 and $49.29.