Microsoft falls; Stifel downgrades stock to 'hold', cuts PT to Street low

Shares of Microsoft MSFT.O fall 1.5% to $407.86 in premarket trading

Stifel downgrades MSFT stock to "hold" from "buy" on bleak Azure growth catalysts in the near term

Brokerage cuts PT on stock to Street low of $392 from $540, implying more than 5% downside to stock's last close

While MSFT is well-positioned to navigate the evolving AI landscape in the long term, its near-term prospects seem a bit more cloudy as Google appears to be rapidly gaining AI share and MSFT's OpenAI relationship is not nearly as additive as it once was - Stifel analysts

MSFT reported Q2 results last month, its capital spending totaled $37.5 billion in Q2, a jump of nearly 66% from last year

"We see no near-term catalysts and expect the stock to be range bound until either CAPEX growth slows below Azure growth and/or Azure posts a significant acceleration," Stifel said

56 of 60 brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher, and rest rate it "hold"; their median PT is $600 - data compiled by LSEG

YTD, MSFT was down 14.4% as of last close