Microsoft stock’s jump following a strong earnings report for its third fiscal quarter helped push the company past Apple to become the largest in the U.S. by market capitalization on Friday.
Microsoft is seen as more protected from tariffs’ direct effects than Apple.
Microsoft now has a market cap of $3.24 trillion, beating Apple’s $3.07 trillion. The software company gained $322.8 billion in market cap this week, while Apple lost $58.7 billion.
Microsoft reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue after the stock market closed on Wednesday. Also lifting the stock was a strong performance of the Azure cloud-computing business. Revenue increased 33%, a pickup from the prior quarter’s 31% growth.
Management said on a conference call to discuss the results on Wednesday night that it expects Azure’s fourth-quarter revenue growth to be about 34%.
“We think MSFT’s software-driven business model will remain resilient during uncertain times,” CFRA Research analyst Angelo Zino wrote on Thursday.
Software businesses have shown resiliency in recent weeks as companies choose to continue to spend on the tech despite economic uncertainty. Shares of Microsoft have risen 10% since the company reported its earnings.
Meanwhile, Apple stock fell 3.7% on Friday. On Thursday, the iPhone maker reported better-than-expected fiscalsecond-quarter earningsbut weaker revenue than forecast for its services business and from Greater China.
The company also said it expects tariffs to boost costs by $900 million for the third quarter.
Tariffs are top of mind for investors this earnings season. For now, Microsoft is gaining because investors see it as more protected from the levies’ direct effects than Apple.
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