Microsoft Sales 'In Line' With Expectations, PacCrest Says

• Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) shares have soared almost 10 percent over the past month.
• Pacific Crest’s Brendan Barnicle has maintained an Overweight rating on the company, with a price target of $55.
• Despite checks suggesting that customer demand for Windows 10 has been increasing, sales for the latest version of the operating system have been trending in-line with expectations.

Analyst Brendan Barnicle reported that a survey of 28 PC retailers in the US showed that while customer inquiries for Windows 10 was on the rise, although on about 17 percent of the retailer said that the sales of the OS were higher than expected.

While Windows 10 PCs have been replacing Windows 8 PC, as the inventories get exhausted, the survey revealed that overall PC inventories had declined at retail stores.

The Street consensus has projected a 14 percent year-on-year decline in Device & Consumer revenue for Microsoft in FQ1, with a 6 percent decline in F2016. Barnicle believes that these expectations could prove to be too low, and that “Windows 10 could be a source of modest upside because of low consensus expectations.”

According to the Pacific Crest report, the company has been “demonstrating a renewed financial discipline.” Barnicle expects Microsoft’s core businesses to witness accelerating growth, going forward.