Microsoft and Others Near Death Cross, Indicating Potential Weakness
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 21 2026
0mins
Should l Buy MSFT?
Source: CNBC
- Death Cross Risk: Microsoft's 50-day moving average at $482.65 is perilously close to its 200-day average of $482.96, indicating potential downside risk that could undermine investor confidence and affect stock performance.
- Market Volatility: U.S. equities faced significant fluctuations amid Trump's push to acquire Greenland, with a sharp drop on Tuesday followed by a rebound on Wednesday after he ruled out military intervention, highlighting market sentiment instability.
- Paramount Skydance Lawsuit: Paramount Skydance's 50-day moving average of $14.03 is nearing its 200-day average of $13.91, and the company has initiated a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery as part of a hostile takeover plan, potentially increasing market uncertainty.
- NetApp Downgrade: Morgan Stanley downgraded NetApp from equal weight to underweight due to rising component costs and softer tech spending, resulting in a 22% decline in the stock over the past 12 months, reflecting challenges faced by the industry.
Trade with 70% Backtested Accuracy
Stop guessing "Should I Buy MSFT?" and start using high-conviction signals backed by rigorous historical data.
Sign up today to access powerful investing tools and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Analyst Views on MSFT
Wall Street analysts forecast MSFT stock price to rise
34 Analyst Rating
32 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 396.860
Low
500.00
Averages
631.36
High
678.00
Current: 396.860
Low
500.00
Averages
631.36
High
678.00
About MSFT
Microsoft Corporation is a technology company that develops and supports software, services, devices, and solutions. Its Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of products and services in its portfolio of productivity, communication, and information services, spanning a variety of devices and platforms. It comprises Microsoft 365 Commercial products and cloud services; Microsoft 365 Consumer products and cloud services; LinkedIn, and Dynamics products and cloud services. The Intelligent Cloud segment consists of its public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services. It comprises server products and cloud services, including Azure, and enterprise and partner services, including Enterprise Support Services. Its More Personal Computing segment primarily comprises Windows and Devices, including Windows OEM licensing; Gaming, including Xbox hardware and Xbox content; Search and news advertising, comprising Bing and Copilot, Microsoft News, and Microsoft Edge.
About the author

Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
- Massive Investment: Microsoft announced at the India AI Impact Summit its plan to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to enhance AI access in Global South countries, demonstrating its commitment to emerging markets and long-term growth.
- Five-Part Strategic Plan: The company's five-part strategy includes empowering schools and nonprofits through technology and skills, strengthening multilingual and multicultural AI capabilities, enabling local AI innovations to meet community needs, and measuring AI diffusion to guide future policies and investments, aiming to enhance AI's societal impact comprehensively.
- Food Security Initiative: Microsoft also unveiled a new AI initiative aimed at strengthening food security across Sub-Saharan Africa, starting in Kenya and designed for regional scalability, reflecting its focus on addressing local challenges through technology.
- Global AI Gathering: India is set to host one of the world's largest AI gatherings, with Prime Minister Modi aiming to position the country as a key player in the global race for advanced AI models, attracting top executives from major tech firms including Microsoft, thereby enhancing India's influence in the global AI landscape.
See More
- Investor Preferences: The ten most owned stocks on Robinhood include blue-chip stocks like Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet, indicating that investors are still focused on high-growth tech plays, even as they avoid more speculative stocks.
- Google's AI Potential: Google's Gemini generative AI platform is rapidly growing, with analysts expecting revenue and EPS to grow at CAGRs of 15% and 12% from 2025 to 2028, highlighting its strong potential in the digital advertising and cloud infrastructure markets.
- Amazon's Market Advantage: As the world's largest e-commerce and cloud infrastructure company, Amazon leverages AWS profits to expand its retail business, with analysts projecting revenue and EPS growth at CAGRs of 12% and 18% from 2025 to 2028, indicating robust future growth.
- Investment Recommendation: Analysts view both Alphabet and Amazon as evergreen stocks worth investing in, and Robinhood investors' choices reflect confidence in these stocks, especially amid current market volatility, showcasing their long-term investment value.
See More
- Investor Preference: On the Robinhood platform, Alphabet and Amazon are the most favored stocks, each receiving 58 buy ratings, indicating strong investor confidence and reflecting market recognition of their long-term growth potential.
- Alphabet's Diversification: With a robust ecosystem that includes a search engine, cloud services, and a generative AI platform, Alphabet is expected to grow its revenue and EPS at CAGRs of 15% and 12% from 2025 to 2028, demonstrating its ongoing expansion capabilities in the digital advertising and cloud markets.
- Amazon's Market Leadership: As the world's largest e-commerce and cloud infrastructure company, Amazon's AWS business supports its retail operations, with projected revenue and EPS growth rates of 12% and 18% from 2025 to 2028, showcasing its potential in the rapidly growing AI market.
- Investment Value: Despite market volatility, analysts still view Alphabet and Amazon as evergreen stocks worth investing in, indicating that Robinhood investors are leaning towards stable blue-chip stocks rather than more speculative ones.
See More
- Marketplace Integration: CrowdStrike's Falcon platform is now available on Microsoft Marketplace, enabling organizations with full Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment eligibility to deploy the platform faster, thereby simplifying procurement and billing processes and enhancing operational efficiency.
- Increased Financial Flexibility: Customers can apply existing Azure Consumption Commitment funds to purchase the Falcon platform, a move that not only accelerates security implementation but also reduces procurement friction, maximizing the impact of their cloud investments.
- Security as a Foundation: Microsoft’s commercial business CEO Judson Althoff emphasized that security is foundational for AI transformation, and this integration allows customers to optimize cloud spending while maintaining a rigorous security posture.
- Market Sentiment Shift: Over the past 24 hours, retail sentiment on Stocktwits for CRWD shares shifted from 'bearish' to 'neutral', while sentiment for MSFT shares declined from 'neutral' to 'bearish', indicating differing market perceptions of the two companies' stocks.
See More
- Share Acquisition: On February 17, 2026, Cantor Fitzgerald disclosed to the SEC the acquisition of an additional 3,333,423 shares of IREN, with an estimated transaction value of $171.96 million, indicating strong confidence in the company's future prospects.
- Market Value Increase: This acquisition led to a $124.65 million increase in IREN's quarter-end value, reflecting the dual impact of new purchases and price changes, thereby solidifying Cantor Fitzgerald's investment strategy in the digital asset sector.
- Portfolio Adjustment: Following this transaction, IREN now represents 1.99% of Cantor Fitzgerald's 13F AUM, while the firm drastically reduced its stake in CoreWeave by 86%, highlighting its focus on IREN's growth potential.
- Market Performance: As of February 17, 2026, IREN shares were priced at $40.97, up 215.9% year-over-year, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 by 203 percentage points, showcasing its robust performance in the data center and Bitcoin mining sectors.
See More
- Share Acquisition Details: On February 17, 2026, Cantor Fitzgerald disclosed the acquisition of an additional 3,333,423 shares of IREN, with an estimated transaction value of $171.96 million based on the quarterly average price, indicating strong confidence in the company.
- Value Increase: The quarter-end value of IREN's position rose by $124.65 million, reflecting both new purchases and stock price movements, suggesting Cantor Fitzgerald's optimistic outlook on IREN's future growth.
- Market Position Analysis: With a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, IREN represents only 1.99% of Cantor Fitzgerald's 13F AUM, yet its growth potential has drawn investor interest, particularly given its dependency on a contract with Microsoft.
- Investment Strategy Shift: Cantor Fitzgerald significantly increased its investment in IREN while reducing its stake in CoreWeave during Q4, indicating a belief that IREN may offer higher return potential moving forward.
See More











