Why Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Soared On Thursday

We recently published a list of 10 Firms Lead Rally on Impressive Q1 Earnings, Optimistic Outlooks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stands against other top performers on Thursday.

The stock market ended strong anew on Thursday, with all major indices finishing in the green territory, as investor sentiment was bolstered by a flurry of corporate earnings supported by better-than-expected performance from the technology giants.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the rally among all major indices, finishing up 1.52 percent. The S&P 500 clocked in a 0.63-percent gain, while the Dow Jones was up by 0.21 percent.

Ten companies also mimicked the broader market optimism following impressive earnings performance and an optimistic outlook for the rest of the year.

In this article, we have identified the 10 top performers on Thursday and detailed the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with a $2-billion market capitalization and $5-million trading volume.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Technology giant Microsoft Corporation extended its rally for a third consecutive day on Thursday, adding 7.63 percent to end at $425.4 apiece as investors gobbled up shares following better-than-expected earnings coupled with a higher capital allocation for the next year.

On Thursday, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported an 18-percent jump in its net income for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, at $25.8 billion versus the $21.9 billion registered in the same period last year.

Revenues, on the other hand, rose by 2.4 percent to $70.07 billion from $68.42 billion year-on-year.

For the next fiscal year, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella said that the company will gun for a higher capital spending, albeit at a slower rate than the $80 billion budget for the current fiscal year.

Nadella said the 2025 total budget would be allocated for the construction of data centers that can handle artificial intelligence workloads.

Overall, MSFT ranks 5th on our list of top performers on Thursday. While we acknowledge the potential of MSFT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MSFT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.