“Coffee badging” is a comparatively new phenomenon and a response to the return-to-office (RTO) mandates that are sweeping offices. A coffee badger shows up in the morning, scans his or her badge at the door, and is visible in the office long enough to get a cup of coffee, then leaves to go work in a place he or she would prefer. But tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) may have a way to beat the coffee badger with Teams. Investors were oddly unhappy about that, and sent shares sliding fractionally in Tuesday afternoon’s trading.
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Reports out of Microsoft say that Teams will eventually come with a new feature that identifies a user’s location via the Wi-Fi network they use to connect. So when users connect to the office Wi-Fi, they identify themselves as being in the office. This is useful, of course, for anyone who wants to know where someone is. But for those who would rather not be spotted—like those looking for some peace and quiet to get their work done or for coffee badgers working from somewhere else despite RTO calls—it might be a serious impediment.
The tool is expected to go live in December 2025, just in time for users to wonder who is in the office and who is on an extended family-related vacation. Plus, Microsoft will also bring keyboard shortcuts to Teams soon, and save messages in conversations and chats.
Wrong Direction
Meanwhile, reports emerged noting that Microsoft is working on a tool that seems a little less valuable for the way it is set up. Microsoft is working on an “official Xbox emulator” for PC, which means that Xbox games will be available on PC. Those wondering when PC games will be available on Xbox—especially games with controller support—will be left in the dark a while longer.
And of course, licensing issues will also come into play, as the new emulator will reportedly not work with games that are not approved for use outside of the Xbox ecosystem. Though the emulator will reportedly address one key concern about the ROG Ally, namely, that it does not play actual Xbox games.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 32 Buys assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 20.88% rally in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $631.76 per share implies 22.88% upside potential.
