Pros and Cons to Buying Microsoft (MSFT) Stock

Twenty years ago, Microsoft Corp. (ticker: MSFT) was the most valuable company in the world. Today, along with competitors Apple

Twenty years ago, Microsoft Corp. (ticker: MSFT) was the most valuable company in the world.

Today, along with competitors Apple ( AAPL) and Amazon.com ( AMZN), Microsoft is worth around $1.5 trillion, and tech titans like Alphabet ( GOOG, GOOGL), Facebook ( FB) and Netflix ( NFLX) are not too far behind. The company that brought you Windows may not be alone at the top anymore, but Microsoft is far from obsolete and continues to remain relevant in markets around the world.

Is Microsoft stock still a buy in mid-2020? Heres a look at the biggest pros and cons associated with MSFT.

Microsoft Stock at a Glance

Rising to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Microsofts software became the industry standard for early PCs made by the likes of IBM ( IBM) and Apple. This gave Microsoft a crucial first-mover advantage.

By the 1990s, computers became small enough and economical enough for the average American household or typical elementary school to afford one. The end market wasnt just corporations and academia anymore, propelling Microsoft further.

As home computers became commonplace, so too was the operating system they used: Windows, the pre-installed, Microsoft-made software. Consumers loved the Windows user experience and its practical capabilities, especially the Microsoft Office suite of applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

By earning a hefty licensing fee on each computer sold with Windows and Office, Microsoft was able to achieve previously unimaginable scale over a short period.

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A few decades later and Windows is still a major cash cow for Microsoft. But the company has also been able to diversify, and its most exciting future growth prospects are expected to come from other areas like cloud computing, social networking, remote work apps and video games.

Pros of Buying Microsoft Stock

There have been three CEOs since Microsoft was founded in 1975: co-founder Bill Gates (1975-2000), Steve Ballmer (2000-2014) and Satya Nadella. Gates tenure was characterized by a company that experienced virtually unprecedented growth, making him the richest person in the world by the 1990s. Ballmers tenure was a struggle, as Microsoft failed to stay at the forefront of tech, largely missing the boat on huge growth industries it was perfectly positioned to dominate like smartphones, search engines and social networks.

Since 2014, Microsoft has been led by Nadella, a period that thus far has been characterized by a return to Wall Street prominence, outperformance, revenue diversification and its biggest theme: cloud computing.

Today, one of Microsofts biggest pros is essentially the same as what it was 20 years ago: The company has an unbelievable moat, a high barrier to entry. Many users around the world have learned everything they know about computers using Microsofts Windows operating system.

If you dont have an Apple computer, Windows is by far the operating system of choice for manufacturers and consumers alike, holding the majority of the desktop market share worldwide.

But Microsoft doesnt have to release a new version of Windows just to profit from Windows. In the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2020 year, Microsofts Windows original equipment manufacturer (OEM) revenue increased by 7%.

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Amid the pandemic, the tech companys Windows OEM non-Pro revenue increased 34% thanks to consumer demand driven by remote work needs for employees staying out of the office and remote learning scenarios, illustrating the strength of the Windows brand and the value of the product.

Windows is part of a business segment Microsoft labels More Personal Computing, and the segment also accounts for the Xbox and associated services, sales of the Surface tablet and advertising revenue from Bing.

Besides Bing, a perennial loser lagging behind Googles search engine, More Personal Computing saw great success in the fourth quarter. People quarantined at home sought escape in video games, sending gaming revenue up 64% and Xbox content and services revenue up 65%; meanwhile, stay-at-home orders also encouraged consumers to snag a Surface tablet for remote work and education, resulting in a 28% increase in Surface revenue.

Combined with Windows, these diverse businesses propelled revenue in the More Personal Computing segment up 14% in a quarter when the vast majority of companies around the world could only dream of such returns. But the big growth driver at Microsoft right now is the cloud.

The second major pro to buying Microsoft stock is its growing focus on the cloud. The company does this in two ways: First, it offers its suite of productivity applications, Microsoft Office, as a cloud-based software as a service offering. Instead of earning a one-time cut when someone buys a Windows- and Office-equipped computer, consumers now pay Microsoft $99.99 a year to use Office across all devices.

The second way Microsoft is cashing in on the cloud is with its cloud computing offering Azure. Its the second-largest player in the rapidly growing field, trailing only Amazon and its Amazon Web Services. In the fourth quarter, Microsoft Azure revenue grew by 47% year over year, fueling the 19% increase in server products and cloud services revenue year over year.

But the strength of Azure and Microsofts cloud services was enough to propel the Intelligent Cloud segment to 17% revenue growth this past quarter, and that growth will likely only continue thanks to key contracts like Microsofts recent $10 billion deal with the U.S. Department of Defense.

The cloud, personal computing and Microsofts final segment, Productivity and Business Processes, all enjoyed strong revenue growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and combined to push Microsofts fourth-quarter revenue up 13% year over year. As for the fiscal year itself, Microsofts revenue increased by 14% year over year, while earnings per share increased by 14%, too.

MSFT shareholders who have spent 2020 watching their portfolios take a roller coaster ride must be relieved that their investments include a company as stable as Microsoft. This brings up the final pro for investing in the house that Gates built: stability.

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The risk you take on by investing in Microsoft is fairly low for long-term investors. Not only is Microsoft notably absent from the U.S. governments looming antitrust investigations into Big Tech peers Facebook, Alphabet and Amazon, but Microsoft is one of just two U.S. companies that all major credit rating agencies actually consider to be a lower default risk than the federal government.

Thats right: Microsoft, along with Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ), is more likely to pay back your loan than Uncle Sam. Its hard to be much more financially secure than that.

Cons of Buying Microsoft Stock

The cons to buying Microsoft stock? Those are a bit harder to find.

The most glaring risk might seem trite, but in simple terms, its that MSFT stock may be too high right now. By traditional metrics like the price-earnings ratio (PE) and price-earnings to growth ratio (PEG), Microsoft is trading at richer valuations than the S&P 500.

Theres nothing wrong with that on its face. Most growth stocks trade for higher multiples than the market at large, for the rational reason that earnings are expected to grow more quickly than the wider market.

The question, however, is whether a trillion-dollar company like Microsoft can still be expected to grow at a quick enough rate to justify its PE of 35. Back in the 80s and 90s, it wasnt unusual for earnings to double every two years or so, and its much easier to go from numbers like $100 million to $200 million than $1 trillion to $2 trillion. Theres only so much money, and so much growth, in the world especially considering the FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) stocks that are constantly vying for Microsofts business.

Speaking of FAANG stocks, theres another potential risk to keep abreast of: If a competitor develops a breakthrough in something like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, smart home devices or entertainment where Microsoft shouldve been competing more aggressively, thats a missed opportunity. But Nadella is far less likely to miss those massive paradigm shifts than the less technologically sophisticated Ballmer.

That said, Microsoft faces stiff competition in nearly every industry in which it dabbles. Surface sales may increase, but its doubtful theyll ever eclipse the iPad. Google is unlikely to lose out to Bing anytime soon. Azure is steadily gaining ground, but Amazon still remains the market leader. There are always new competitors ready to take on Microsofts dominance Slack ( WORK) is challenging Microsoft Teams, while the new Xbox Series X will face off against Sonys ( SNE) new PlayStation 5 this holiday season.

The key to Microsofts ongoing success remains Windows and the Office suite of products. That was true in the 1990s, and it is still true in 2020. As long as Microsoft remains dominant in those markets, it will be a viable company with a bright future ahead but investors should always be wary of new competitors lurking just over the horizon.

The Bottom Line on Microsoft Stock

The fact that the biggest risks associated with Microsoft stock are mostly just the usual risks associated with buying any stock is a remarkable statement.

For a company of its size to not have extreme legal or antitrust woes or hardcore competition threatening its bread and butter is remarkable. The fact that its financial security is considered safer than U.S. bonds is almost without parallel.

Microsoft has a great moat in an industry that will almost certainly still be around a decade from now; on top of that, at the time of this writing, it pays a modest 0.96% dividend. Thats slightly more than the 10-year Treasury at 0.6% right now. So if you can sit on your hands with 10-year Treasurys, you might as well buy some Microsoft youll get the dividend, and likely some sizable capital gains unless something goes horribly wrong, or Nadella decides to channel his inner Ballmer.

When you look at the risk versus reward, Microsoft is a phenomenal stock to own.