Microsoft (MSFT 1.52%) recently released sluggish results for its fiscal 2023 second quarter. For the period that ended Dec. 31, its revenue growth rate decelerated to a mere 2% year-over-year and net income fell by 12%. Free cash flow also dropped by 43% to $4.9 billion.
Demand for its personal computing devices returned to pre-pandemic levels -- a trend that's expected to further accelerate in 2023. Corporations have been tightening their budgets, which seems to be affecting demand for Microsoft's Azure cloud services. Management has also predicted a weak growth outlook for Azure in its fiscal Q3, which seems to be weighing on investor sentiment.
Despite these challenges, there are many factors in favor of the tech behemoth. Let's assess whether these factors make Microsoft stock a buy in early 2023.
The potential in cloud computing, gaming, and AI
Although demand for cloud services is not completely resistant to economic downturns, Azure's long-term growth story is mostly intact. Azure was the second-largest cloud infrastructure player with a 21% global market share in calendar 2022's third quarter.
According to Precedence Research, the global cloud computing market, which was worth $446.5 billion in 2022, is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 17.4% to $1.6 trillion in 2030. Azure is well-positioned to capture a significant share of this growing opportunity.
When the macroeconomic worries subside, organizations will reaccelerate their data and workload migrations to the cloud. Additionally, Microsoft believes that organizations are currently optimizing their Azure projects and may start new projects in the next few quarters, thereby boosting demand for its cloud services.
Microsoft is also a well-established brand in the video game business. According to a Fortune Business Insights forecast, that market is on track to grow from $203 billion in 2020 to $546 billion in 2028. The company has a solid position in gaming hardware with its Xbox consoles as well as in the software segment with its cloud-based subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. Hence, even if the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard does not go through due to antitrust issues, the company is still well-positioned to grow rapidly in the gaming business.
In the current precarious macroeconomic environment, more organizations are attempting to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) models to help them optimize their operations. Microsoft aims to benefit from this secular trend, and is investing $10 billion in ChatGPT creator OpenAI. The company is helping many of its partners and customers train AI models with the help of its supercomputing infrastructure and Azure cloud computing services.
Robust cash flows and solid balance sheet
Although Microsoft took a hit on several financial metrics, it reported a 41% adjusted operating margin in its fiscal second quarter -- quite impressive in this macroeconomic environment.
In an effort to partly offset the impact of weaker demand and a potential recession on its business, the company has been actively focusing on cutting costs. To that end, Microsoft plans to lay off 10,000 employees (around 5% of its global workforce) over the next few months.
Microsoft also has a solid balance sheet, with $99.5 billion in cash on the books and $78 billion in total debt. With cash exceeding debt, the company can comfortably cover its expenses and invest in new opportunities.
Microsoft stock is a buy
Many analysts expect there to be a recession in 2023. If one materializes, a slowdown in consumer spending and tightening corporate budgets will undoubtedly hinder Microsoft's business performance in the short run.
However, Microsoft's long-term prospects remain strong. It enjoys significant exposure to the rapidly growing cloud computing, gaming, and artificial intelligence markets. It has a 40% plus-operating margin, indicative of its focus on controlling costs. Finally, even in a tough quarter, Microsoft returned $9.7 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
Hence, although the stock may see some near-term weakness, it remains an attractive growth stock for long-term investors.
