What is Scotiabank’s Estimate for Microsoft FY2026 Earnings?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) – Equities research analysts at Scotiabank issued their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for Microsoft in a research note issued on Friday, May 1st. Scotiabank analyst P. Colville anticipates that the software giant will post earnings per share of $16.71 for the year. Scotiabank has a “Outperform” rating and a $550.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Microsoft’s current full-year earnings is $16.68 per share.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.21. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company had revenue of $82.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.44 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on MSFT. Weiss Ratings lowered Microsoft from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Microsoft from $641.00 to $646.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Microsoft in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Evercore dropped their price objective on Microsoft from $580.00 to $510.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $556.00.

Microsoft Price Performance

NASDAQ MSFT opened at $413.62 on Tuesday. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $356.28 and a fifty-two week high of $555.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $395.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $447.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.07 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in Microsoft by 51.3% during the second quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Microsoft in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Microsoft by 287.0% in the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 89 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In related news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 12,321 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $409.52, for a total transaction of $5,045,695.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 137,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,486,322.16. This trade represents a 8.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John W. Stanton bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $397.35 per share, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 83,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,339,651.75. This represents a 6.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Microsoft Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.91 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Microsoft’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.67%.

Microsoft News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed a buy rating on Microsoft, a vote of confidence from an active sell?side firm that supports demand for the shares. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Receives Buy Rating from Jefferies Financial Group
• Positive Sentiment: RBC Capital commented on Microsoft’s amended OpenAI deal — the note frames the partnership terms as a strategic positive for long?term AI revenue and cloud demand, which could underpin MSFT’s growth outlook. Here’s What RBC Capital Thinks About Microsoft (MSFT) After Amended Deal With OpenAI
• Positive Sentiment: Product and execution wins: Microsoft moved Agent 365 out of preview and continues to expand AI agent and Copilot integrations across Microsoft 365 — these enterprise product rollouts help monetize AI inside existing commercial relationships. Microsoft takes Agent 365 out of preview as shadow AI becomes an enterprise threat
• Positive Sentiment: Bull perspective: several analysts and commentators argue MSFT is attractively valued given backlog and cloud visibility, describing the stock as a long?term compounding opportunity despite near?term headwinds. Microsoft: A Generational Compounding Opportunity At 21x P/E
• Neutral Sentiment: Price?target action: China Renaissance trimmed its MSFT target to $550 from $630 but kept a buy rating — a modest downgrade in optics but still implies material upside from current levels. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Cut to $550.00 by Analysts at China Renaissance
• Negative Sentiment: Investor rotation risk: Altimeter sold Microsoft in favor of Nvidia and SK Hynix — portfolio managers are favoring AI compute/hardware exposure over software/cloud exposure, creating selling pressure for MSFT. Why Altimeter Sold Microsoft For Nvidia, SK Hynix: CEO Gerstner Warns Investors Must ‘Make Choices’ Between Software And AI Compute
• Negative Sentiment: Cost and margin worries: commentators note the market is currently pricing Microsoft for rising AI infrastructure costs rather than future AI revenue — heavy GPU/infra spend and guidance for lower cloud gross margins are pressuring sentiment. Microsoft: The Market Is Pricing AI Costs, Not AI Returns
• Negative Sentiment: High capex flagged by pundits and TV commentators (e.g., Jim Cramer) remains a headline risk — investors are sensitive to the company’s multiyear GPU and data?center spend and the timing of return on that investment. Jim Cramer Points to Elevated Capital Spending as a Concern for Microsoft Investors

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft’s product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).