1354 ET - Microsoft's guidance for F4Q Azure growth accelerating above consensus to 39% to 40% may not be enough to change the underlying story, especially as compared with its hyperscaler peers, UBS analysts say in a note. "We're not sure that a modest 2H Azure acceleration, when AWS and Google Cloud just posted remarkable accelerations and Microsoft still needs to exhibit innovation/growth in its M365/other apps portfolio, will re-rate the stock." Still, the Azure growth was surprising given UBS's expectation that Microsoft would throttle Azure growth to feed internal compute needs. "We're most encouraged by the evidence of very strong demand as well as the pace of AI capacity go-lives, balanced by the recognition that Microsoft is deliberately throttling Azure growth to serve 1P needs," they say. Microsoft is off 5.4%. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 30, 2026 13:54 ET (17:54 GMT)

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