Microsoft is getting close to overtaking Apple as the most valuable US company

[Windows Central]

Apple's $2.834 trillion market cap vs Microsoft's $2.752 value is an $82 billion difference, which is about the value of the recent ABK deal.

Microsoft is getting close to overtaking Apple as the most valuable US company : Read more

 

[GraniteStateColin]

All good points. Just on investing, careful for FOMO overtaking the maxim: buy low, sell high. This could also be a great time to sell some of that MS stock, to liquidate those gains and enjoy the proceeds. Buying stocks when they're doing great is usually not the best (but, there are plenty of exceptions and with strong growth, MS stock today could certainly be one of those exceptions). Because market timing is also nearly impossible, the recommended approach is "dollar-cost averaging," which just means buying a little bit every month (or whatever period makes sense for you). That ensures at least some of those purchases are at good prices.

A typical decent stock portfolio should roughly double in value every 10 years (without requiring any purchases to add to the principal), even factoring in recessions and negative global events. When they don't for some investors, it's usually because they have dumped stock during downturns (selling low) and jumped in at market peaks (buying high). MS has significantly outperformed that typical 10-year doubling, and if pressed, I would forecast that they will again over the next decade, but I do keep my investments diversified (no more than 4% in any one company, except for companies where I play a role in the company's management).

By the way, this is also why tax policy and political rhetoric that demonize "corporate profits" as something that should be taken away or punished is so bad for so many people: tens of millions of people in the U.S. have their retirement plan based around their 401Ks (vastly more value than the zero-gain in Social Security, which is barely a survival-level safety net) or personal IRAs. People in other countries have similar holdings. Anything that harms corporate profits not only hurts those companies directly, which translates to a reduction in their ability to invest in R&D for future growth, it also hurts the lives of every single person with stock in their 401K and ONLY stocks can provide that doubling in value every 10 years.

 

[Mattytwotimes]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/10/microsoft-confirms-more-job-cuts-on-top-of-10000-layoffs-in-january.html

I'm old enough to remember this.

 

[fjtorres5591]

By the way, this is also why tax policy and political rhetoric that demonize "corporate profits" as something that should be taken away or punished is so bad for so many people: tens of millions of people in the U.S. have their retirement plan based around their 401Ks (vastly more value than the zero-gain in Social Security, which is barely a survival-level safety net) or personal IRAs. People in other countries have similar holdings. Anything that harms corporate profits not only hurts those companies directly, which translates to a reduction in their ability to invest in R&D for future growth, it also hurts the lives of every single person with stock in their 401K and ONLY stocks can provide that doubling in value every 10 years.

A point many people forget is that MS is 72.05% owned by institutional investors (pension funds, money management corps, etc) and 28% of their net income is returned to these investors in dividends.
That is a substantial revenue stream for some retirees.
The dividend ratio isn't the highest but it is pretty large for a company that large growing that fast and investing so much in future revenue growth.

The question for MS isn't so much when they'll surpass Apple's valuation but how high can they go. Three trillion looks like a given. After that? TBD. Best guess is $3T may very well be their floor, long term.