Will Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) be resilient in a challenging environment?

Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC, an investment management firm, has published its “Mar Vista Focus Strategy” investor letter for the first quarter of 2024. You can download a copy of the letter here. The S&P 500 Index posted its best first-quarter performance since 2019, with enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, solid corporate earnings and expectations of interest rate cuts driving stock prices higher. The strategy returned +5.53% net of fees in the first quarter compared to +11.41% and +10.56% returns for the Russell 1000 Growth Index and S&P 500. Please check out the strategy’s top 5 stocks to see the top picks in 2024

Mar Vista Focus Strategy highlighted stocks like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in its Q1 2024 investor letter. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is an international software company that develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has a monthly return of 4.05% and its stock has gained 29.28% of its value over the last 52 weeks. On June 14, 2024, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) stock price reached $442.57 per share, with a market capitalization of $3.289 trillion.

Mar Vista Focus Strategy in its Q1 2024 Investor Letter stated the following regarding Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT):

“Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) continues to be in a strong position to gain market share as enterprises transition to a digital environment and take advantage of generative AI-based solutions. The company’s dominant presence in the enterprise market, combined with a comprehensive product portfolio spanning infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS), makes it a key provider of IT solutions for businesses of all sizes.

Microsoft is successfully executing its strategy in a large market by offering a roadmap for digital transformation and the adoption of AI-based solutions such as ChatGPT, while increasing productivity and reducing costs. As such, we anticipate that Microsoft solutions should demonstrate resilience even in a more challenging macroeconomic environment, supporting low double-digit intrinsic value growth over our investment horizon.”

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Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is second on our list of the 31 most popular stocks among hedge funds. According to our database, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) had 293 hedge fund holdings at the end of the first quarter, up from 302 in the prior quarter. It was a record quarter for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), driven by the continued strength of Microsoft Cloud. The company reported revenue of $61.9 billion, up 17% year-over-year. While we recognize the potential of Microsoft Corporation ( NASDAQ:MSFT ) as an investment, our belief is based on the belief that AI stocks have a better chance of delivering higher returns, faster. If you’re looking for an AI stock that shows as much promise as NVIDIA but is trading at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report on cheapest AI stocks.

In another article, we covered Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and shared a list of the best AI PC stocks to buy. The Baron Fifth Avenue Growth Fund continued to add Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to its portfolio during the first quarter. Additionally, check out our Q1 2024 Hedge Fund Investor Lists page to see more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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