S&P 500
7,588.60
+0.51%
Dow Jones
52,758.90
+0.47%
Nasdaq 100
29,885.70
+0.46%
Russell 2000
2,982.51
-0.27%
FTSE 100
10,543.60
+0.61%
Nikkei 225
69,317.20
+0.42%

Consumer Electronics

A Microsoft (MSFT) Christmas

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Christmas may come early to Microsoft (MSFT) investors.

Just a year ago, it was hard to imagine that the world’s largest software company would ever have an earnings engine beyond its core Windows OS and Office products. They have been the huge majority of revenue and 100% of operating profit since the company began. And, they have offset losses in the company’s video game and online divisions.

Improved sales in PCs over the last quarter may help the company’s core software businesses bring in an impressive quarter, but going into the last two months of the year, the tremendous success of the company’s new video game "Halo 3" and the lift that it is giving to Xbox 360 sales, could actually turn the device business into a profit-maker for the company. Last year, the division lost $1.9 billion.

Green ink in that division along with strong Vista sales could actually turn Microsoft into a growth stock story again.

Ho, Ho, Ho.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

DISCLOSURE:
INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA(www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org). Advisory services are offered by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Information about SoFi Wealth’s advisory operations, services, and fees is set forth in SoFi Wealth’s current Form ADV Part 2 (Brochure), a copy of which is available upon request and at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov. Probability of Member receiving $1,000 is a probability of 0.026%; If you don’t make a selection in 30 days, you’ll no longer qualify for the promo. Customer must fund their account with a minimum of $50.00 to qualify. Other fees, such as exchange fees, may apply. Please view our fee disclosure to view a full listing of fees. Investing in alternative investments and/or strategies may not be suitable for all investors and involves unique risks, including the risk of loss. An investor should consider their individual circumstances and any investment information, such as a prospectus, prior to investing. Interval Funds are illiquid instruments, the ability to trade on your timeline may be restricted. Brokerage and Active investing products offered through SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA(www.finra.org) /SIPC(www.sipc.org). There are limitations with fractional shares to consider before investing. During market hours fractional share orders are transmitted immediately in the order received. There may be system delays from receipt of your order until execution and market conditions may adversely impact execution prices. Outside of market hours orders are received on a not held basis and will be aggregated for each security then executed in the morning trade window of the next business day at market open. Share will be delivered at an average price received for executing the securities through a single batched order. Fractional shares may not be transferred to another firm. Fractional shares will be sold when a transfer or closure request is initiated. Please consider that selling securities is a taxable event. Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire investment Before trading options please review the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options  Investing in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) involves substantial risk, including the risk of loss. Further, there are a variety of risk factors to consider when investing in an IPO, including but not limited to, unproven management, significant debt, and lack of operating history. For a comprehensive discussion of these risks please refer to SoFi Securities’ IPO Risk Disclosure Statement This should not be considered a recommendation to participate in IPOs and investors should carefully read the offering prospectus to determine whether an offering is consistent with their investment objectives, risk tolerance, and financial situation. New offerings generally have high demand and there are a limited number of shares available for distribution to participants. Many customers may not be allocated shares and share allocations may be significantly smaller than the shares requested in the customer’s initial offer (Indication of Interest). For more information on the allocation process please visit IPO Allocation.
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Medicare Won't Touch Long-Term Care. The Average Nursing-Home Year Runs Past $100,000.
Drew Wood |

Medicare Won't Touch Long-Term Care. The Average Nursing-Home Year Runs Past $100,000.
Could You Retire Better in Portugal or Costa Rica With $500,000?
Drew Wood |

Could You Retire Better in Portugal or Costa Rica With $500,000?

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Microsoft’s (MSFT) Good News: It Is No Longer Just Software

Analysts hung crepe for hours after Microsoft (MSFT) announced it quarterly results. Revenue did not grow enough and earnings were…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Microsoft (MSFT) Gets A Second Chance

A  look at the numbers for Microsoft’s last quarter would make most investors shudder. Revenue barely moved, up 2% to…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Microsoft: Xbox Ablaze

There is a lesson in the smoking controllers that work with the Xbox 360. Microsoft (MSFT) "will send out replacement…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Microsoft (MSFT) Adjusts Investor Expectation Down

Wall St. is estimating that Microsoft (MSFT) will make $.40 a share in the current quarter and $1.77 for its…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Microsoft Delivers A Big Quarter, But Online Operations Lose $696 Million

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced record fourth-quarter revenue of $16.04 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, a 22% increase…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

All’s Well With Microsoft (MSFT) Except Its Plans

The Daily Racing Form’s take on Microsoft’s (MSFT) fourth quarter is that there was nothing good about it. The company…

247sarah |

Is Apple About to Conquer the Video Game Industry? Look out Microsoft

Apple may be about to enter the video game console market. Metal, the new graphics API Apple unveiled on Monday,…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Steve Ballmer Is Not Going Anywhere

Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer is not going anywhere. Some analysts say that the company’s performance at CES was…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Microsoft (MSFT) Has To Get Smaller

Microsoft’s (MSFT) revenue dropped 17% in the second quarter, and worse, sales dropped in all five of the firm’s operating…

Top Gaining Stocks

Meta
META • Vol: 40,760,422
CarMax
KMX • Vol: 2,288,021
Weyerhaeuser
WY • Vol: 6,523,553
SBA Communications
SBAC • Vol: 1,443,801
NVIDIA
NVDA • Vol: 148,249,982

Top Losing Stocks

Moderna
MRNA • Vol: 9,176,778
Coterra Energy
CTRA • Vol: 73,319,495
CrowdStrike
CRWD • Vol: 9,269,567
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 5,135,556
EPAM Systems
EPAM • Vol: 1,164,561