tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Microsoft ( MSFT )'s Cloud business is on a tear, and it helped the technology company surpass consensus estimates for the top and the bottom line on Wednesday by wide margins. Microsoft realized double-digit top-line growth in the important Cloud segment, with Azure sustaining growth rates near 40%, and the tech enterprise generated a ton of free cash f...
tupungato/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Microsoft ( MSFT )'s Cloud business is on a tear, and it helped the technology company surpass consensus estimates for the top and the bottom line on Wednesday by wide margins. Microsoft realized double-digit top-line growth in the important Cloud segment, with Azure sustaining growth rates near 40%, and the tech enterprise generated a ton of free cash flow as well. This strong cash flow position gives the tech enterprise significant leverage to pull off new acquisitions or potentially increase its equity stake in OpenAI ( OPENAI ). I like Microsoft on the pullback and believe that Cloud is going to be a major winner for the company this year as CapEx spending in the Data Center industry is set to grow massively. Data by YCharts Previous rating I rated shares of Microsoft a buy in my last work on the tech platform -- Path To $600 -- as I felt that the company's growth proposition in the enterprise Cloud market was underrated by investors. Further, semiconductor chip sales are surging, which is a key driver for AI product adoption for Azure. Microsoft remained widely profitable in the last quarter, highlighting a strong value proposition for investors. Most importantly, the recent pullback in shares of Microsoft is utterly undeserved and creates a buying opportunity for investors, in my opinion. Given the possibility of an investment upsize in OpenAI, I am upgrading shares of Microsoft to strong buy. Microsoft beats estimates for Q2 The technology enterprise exceeded top and bottom line estimates for its second fiscal quarter on Wednesday, mainly due to strong growth related to its enterprise Cloud offerings: Microsoft generated $4.14 per-share in adjusted earnings, beating the consensus estimate by $0.22 per-share. The firm's top line came in at $81.27B, which was ~$1.0B higher-than-expected. Seeking Alpha Microsoft continued to benefit from strong product uptake on its Azure-branded Cloud segment, which is the second-larg...
Risk gets talked about a lot in investing -- and often defined poorly. In this Rule Breaker Investing podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner is joined by Motley Fool analysts Alicia Alfiere and Yasser El-Shimy to walk through his full 25-point risk rating system, a framework he's used for more than a decade to replace vague labels like "medium risk" with something concrete and measurable. U...
Risk gets talked about a lot in investing -- and often defined poorly. In this Rule Breaker Investing podcast, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner is joined by Motley Fool analysts Alicia Alfiere and Yasser El-Shimy to walk through his full 25-point risk rating system, a framework he's used for more than a decade to replace vague labels like "medium risk" with something concrete and measurable. Using Etsy and Duolingo as live 2026 case studies, the trio scores each company question by question -- covering the business, financials, competition, leadership, and the investor's own willingness to dig deeper. Along the way, listeners get a deeper look at how studying risk is really about studying quality -- and how seeing risk clearly with a number is just another way Rule Breaker investors can learn to break the rules. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy. A full transcript is below. This podcast was recorded on Jan. 21, 2026. David Gardner: Risk. A lot of people talk about it, but especially in the investment world, I've never found that talk very satisfying. First of all, how do you, how do I, how do they, define risk? What does it mean, even to say that's a risky stock? The definitions are often unclear. Then some professional analysts in the risk section of their stock research will say stuff like medium. As in, this is a medium risk stock. What does that mean? Well, more than a decade ago, I developed a 25 point risk rating system that I've used as a rule breaker investor ever since. First off, I defined risk. Well, at least what that word means to me as an investor. Then we went on not just to put a word to the riskiness of the stock, not just a word like medium, but to go on to put a number on that stock's risk, a number to give you a much more specific understanding, and that number is itself based on 25 questions asked of each stock....
Several of the world’s largest oil companies knew for years that they were at risk of being fined for breaching sulfur-stockpiling regulations in Kazakhstan, but didn’t resolve the problem in part due to concerns about cost. Court documents seen by Bloomberg offer fresh insights into a case that has seen Kazakhstan impose a penalty of about $5 billion on North Caspian Operating Co., a venture that...
Several of the world’s largest oil companies knew for years that they were at risk of being fined for breaching sulfur-stockpiling regulations in Kazakhstan, but didn’t resolve the problem in part due to concerns about cost. Court documents seen by Bloomberg offer fresh insights into a case that has seen Kazakhstan impose a penalty of about $5 billion on North Caspian Operating Co., a venture that runs the giant Kashagan project on behalf of Eni SpA , Shell Plc and several other big oil companies. NCOC’s longstanding position throughout the process has been that it had all the applicable permits for the sulfur stash that expanded every year from 2016 to 2022 — the point at which the Kazakh authorities imposed the fine. The documents seen by Bloomberg, which include internal emails and presentation slides that were submitted to an Astana court, don’t contradict that position but do show an awareness long before 2022 among several partners that such a penalty was possible. The sulfur fine is connected to a wider $166 billion international arbitration centered around Kashagan, the country’s second-largest oil field. Kazakh authorities have being pushing for higher revenue from the nation’s resources and have sued the venture partners in international arbitration. Most of that amount relates to claims for lost revenue, but also includes environmental violations and deals that Kazakhstan alleged were tainted by corruption. See also: Oil Majors Lose Kazakh Field Dispute Worth as Much as $4 Billion Kashagan pumped its first oil in September 2013, eight years later than targeted and $45 billion over its initial budget. The field shut down a month later after leaks were detected in a pipeline, finally resuming production in 2016. Soon after the restart, the operators faced the problem of what to do with the large volumes sulfur that had to be extracted from the crude to make it suitable for export, the documents show. The chemical was being stored in blocks at the site, a pr...
US President Donald Trump criticised UK and Canadian efforts to boost ties with China, as traditional American allies increasingly seek to diversify their global relations. “It’s very dangerous for them to do that,” Trump said about a UK pledge of deeper business cooperation with China. “And, it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.” Trump spoke to report...
US President Donald Trump criticised UK and Canadian efforts to boost ties with China, as traditional American allies increasingly seek to diversify their global relations. “It’s very dangerous for them to do that,” Trump said about a UK pledge of deeper business cooperation with China. “And, it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.” Trump spoke to reporters at the premiere of the movie Melania at the Kennedy Centre in Washington. UK Prime Minister...