Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is set to report earnings after the close of trading on Thursday. This could be the most widely followed Microsoft report in years. The reason: Satya Nadella will be leading the call for the first time as chief executive officer, now that he has replaced Steve Ballmer.

First and foremost, Thomson Reuters has estimates of $0.63 in earnings per share and $20.39 billion in revenue. This would compare to $0.72 per share and $20.49 billion a year ago.

Microsoft is likely to offer guidance. The next quarter is its year-end, but the Thomson Reuters estimates for the quarter are $0.67 in earnings per share and $21.04 billion in revenue. Those would compare to $0.66 per share and $19.93 billion in the prior year.

Technically speaking, Microsoft has had a hard time staying above $40 in its stock price. Its 52-week range is $30.84 to $41.66, and shares were down 0.8% at $39.37 in mid-day trading ahead of the earnings report. Keep in mind that Microsoft trades about 38 million shares per average day. While $40 has been an overhang of late, the stock is above its 50-day moving average of $39.01. It is also way above its 200-day moving average of $35.63.

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Analysts remain very mixed on Microsoft. The consensus price target for the stock at Thomson Reuters is $39.98 — just call it $40 for rounding. The highest price target by an analyst on Wall Street is $50.00. The stock currently trades at 14.5 times expected 2014 earnings (again, June) expectations and about 13.6 times expected 2015 (June-end) earnings expectations.

Nadella will be on point whether he wants to be or not. And opinions galore, likely in both directions, will fly on Friday regarding how he presents himself and how he envisions the turnaround.

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