Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) added strength Thursday. Morgan Stanley hiked its price target on the tech giant, saying artificial intelligence could bring the market valuation of the firm to above $3 trillion.
If investors learned one thing in 2023, according to the consensus of experts, it's that market conditions can turn on a dime. By all accounts, 2022 was the worst year for investors in over a decade, with the major market indexes posting their worst performances since 2008. Now, just six months later, it appears the worst has passed.
Each of the major market indexes is up more than 20% from their recent respective bottoms, with some pundits calling this a new bull market . Helping drive the about-face is recent developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) . The debut of ChatGPT helped illustrate the potentially far-reaching applications for generative AI, foreshadowing its widespread adoption.
Microsoft was one of the beneficiaries of the recent AI gold rush, and its stock trades up more than 41% so far this year, more than two and a half times the gains of the S&P 500. While some investors fear the stock has come too far, too fast, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives believes Microsoft stock will continue its upward trajectory and join Apple in the exclusive $3 trillion market cap club by early 2024.
MSFT fell 63 cents to $337.52.
