Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock trended on Tuesday as investors reacted to a jury ruling that removes a major legal overhang tied to OpenAI .
A jury in Oakland, California, ruled against Elon Musk on Monday after a three-week trial tied to his 2024 lawsuit alleging Sam Altman and OpenAI violated an agreement to remain a nonprofit.
The claims against Microsoft were reportedly dismissed, and the ruling also undercuts a worst-case scenario that included a $134 billion clawback effort aimed at OpenAI and Microsoft.
Microsoft remained in focus as major investors reshuffled positions, President Donald Trump disclosed multimillion-dollar trades tied to the company, and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman called the stock undervalued despite ongoing AI and cloud concerns.
Trump Disclosures Highlight Large Trades
President Donald Trump's latest financial disclosures showed purchases and sales involving Microsoft and several other major U.S. companies during the first quarter.
The filings revealed Trump sold Microsoft holdings worth between $5 million and $25 million on February 10 alongside positions in Meta Platforms Inc(NASDAQ:META) and Amazon.com Inc(NASDAQ:AMZN), Bloomberg reported last Friday.
The disclosures revealed that he or his investment advisers executed more than 3,700 trades in the first quarter of 2026, involving tens of millions of dollars and shares of major companies such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing Company(NYSE:BA), and Costco Wholesale Corp.(NASDAQ:COST).
The unusually high trading activity has raised fresh conflict-of-interest concerns among Wall Street experts, particularly because several of the companies have business ties to the U.S. government and are affected by Trump administration policies.
Ackman Builds Microsoft Position
Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman disclosed a $2.1 billion stake in Microsoft, calling the software giant more resilient than investors currently appreciate.
Ackman said Microsoft's 365 software suite and Azure cloud platform remain among the strongest franchises in enterprise technology, Bloomberg reported.
He argued that investor concerns surrounding Copilot adoption and cloud demand have created an attractive entry point following the stock's recent decline.
He also described Microsoft's revised OpenAI partnership as a strategic move toward a broader multi-model AI ecosystem rather than a concession to OpenAI.
Ackman funded part of the Microsoft investment by reducing Pershing Square's Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) position, while emphasizing that he remains bullish on Google long term.
Earnings & Analyst Outlook
Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the July 2026 (estimated) earnings report.
- EPS Estimate: $4.24 (Up from $3.65 YoY)
- Revenue Estimate: $87.61 Billion (Up from $76.44 Billion YoY)
- Valuation: P/E of 25.2x (Indicates premium valuation relative to peers)
Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price forecast of $559.38. Recent analyst moves include:
- Wedbush: Outperform (Maintains forecast to $575.00) (May 13)
- Tigress Financial: Buy (Raises forecast to $680.00) (May 6)
- Stifel: Hold (Raises forecast to $415.00) (May 1)
Price Action
MSFT Price Action: Microsoft shares were up 1.27% at $428.90 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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