For Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), a “new tech play” is pretty much par for the course, but this one might be something special, even for Microsoft. The stock is already up significantly in Wednesday afternoon trading, thanks to this one big move and the comments generated around it. The move in question is Microsoft’s potential plan to integrate ChatGPT systems onto its own, including the Microsoft Bing search engine.
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Microsoft may ultimately put as much as $10 billion into OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, to support ChatGPT development. This move was sufficient for Wedbush analyst Dan Ives to call it a “potential game changer” as well as a “smart, strategic move.” Ives was sufficiently impressed to maintain his “outperform” rating on Microsoft stock while also keeping his $290 price target in place.
Ives had more accolades waiting for Microsoft, pointing out that tech stocks were taking a beating on the Street these days. However, pivoting away from Microsoft was not the way to respond here. Indeed, Ives noted, Microsoft was still building a solid case for its cloud systems. That’s thanks to both Office 365 and Azure. He wrapped it up by saying that Microsoft was likely able to withstand the macroeconomic pressures facing tech. It was also currently Wedbush’s “…favorite way to play the cloud theme in 2023.”
Ives is clearly all-in with Microsoft, and he’s far from alone. Analyst consensus currently considers Microsoft stock a Strong Buy with 22.31% upside potential thanks to its average price target of $286.13 per share.
