BY
Microsoft ‘s partnership with Adobe to better integrate its sales and marketing software will enable the technology giant to compete with Salesforce ,Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan said in a note to clients Friday morning.
Microsoft ‘s partnership with Adobe to better integrate its sales and marketing software will enable the technology giant to compete with Salesforce ,Oppenheimer’s Timothy Horan said in a note to clients Friday morning.
The back story. Microsoft shares (ticker: MSFT) are up 18% so far this year and almost 30% over the last year as investors have watched the software behemoths’ Azure cloud-computing business grow and have seen its success in selling software subscriptions such as Office 365. Azure sales posted 76% year-over-year growth in the company’s most recent quarter.
What’s new. Microsoft is “well-positioned for digital transformations,” Horan wrote in a note to clients Friday morning after the company announced last week that it is partnering with Adobe (ADBE) to more effectively integrate sales and marketing software. Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM and Adobe’s Experience Cloud will share data and be integrated into LinkedIn, which Microsoft acquired in 2016. The move was widely seen as an attempt by the companies to take market share from Salesforce.com (CRM).
Looking ahead. Horan’s note echos the sentiments of Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss, who wrote Wednesday that Microsoft is well-positioned to benefit from growing software spending.
Morgan Stanley’s note coincided with the release of its quarterly survey of chief information officers. The latest survey pointed toward 4.6% information-technology budget growth this year, down from an expectation of 4.8% a quarter ago. Nevertheless, that represents a massive opportunity that analysts like Weiss and Horan think Microsoft can capitalize on.
Microsoft shares were recently up 0.4% at $119.78.
Comments