By Sam Boughedda
According to Morgan Stanley analysts, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is "increasingly well-positioned," with the firm's CIO survey suggesting favorable trends for the tech giant.
The analysts, who have an Overweight rating and a $307 price target on the stock, told investors in a note that the CIO survey revealed promising near-term consolidation trends for Microsoft and strong positioning for secular spending priorities, with a widening lead in expected IT wallet share gains.
"Combined with a valuation discount vs. peers, these factors frame an attractive risk/reward at MSFT," they wrote. "CIOs now expect software spending to increase 3.4% in 2023, broadly in line with our 4Q22 survey at 3.3%, and still signaling a modest YoY decline from 2022's 3.6% expectation. The stabilization in 2023 spend expectations is encouraging, suggesting CIOs worked through a critical enterprise budget planning period without the data seeing a material deterioration."
The analysts added that several forward-looking indicators in the CIO survey support Microsoft's strong relative positioning if CY23 budgets come under further pressure. The indicators include Microsoft widening its substantial lead in expected IT wallet share gains, the company remaining well-positioned within key spending priority categories, the fact it features well in key defensive product categories, and it appearing to be well-positioned to benefit from accelerating vendor consolidation.
In a separate note on Thursday, they stated that, overall, the first quarter CIO survey suggests relatively stable 2023 IT budget growth expectations.
"1-yr up-to-down still points to negative revisions, but data points around LT IT spend, and the durability of secular themes remain constructive," wrote the analysts.