Citi closes ‘positive catalyst watch’ on Microsoft, keeps Buy rating

Citi closed the firm’s “positive catalyst watch” on Microsoft shares while keeping a Buy rating on the name. With the stock’s notable outperformance over the last few months, Citi is “pounding the table with a little less vigor,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. However, after spending time at Microsoft Ignite in Seattle, the firm remains positive on the company’s “impressive pace of new product innovation” around generative artificial intelligence. Microsoft remains Citi’s preferred mega-cap name as it sees a durable multi-year product cycle driving sustained double-digit sales and earnings growth. It just says many of the catalysts it was excited about into year-end are now in the rear view.