Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed that it established a new position of approximately 5.65 million shares in Microsoft during the first quarter, valued at about $2.09 billion as of quarter-end, making it the firm's fourth-largest holding. Ackman funded this move by selling off roughly 95% of its position in Alphabet, the parent company of Google. In a post on social media platform X, Ackman explained that this operation began in February after Microsoft's stock experienced a significant decline following its earnings report. The entry valuation was around 21 times forward price-to-earnings, substantially lower than Microsoft's average trading multiple in recent years. He explicitly stated that exiting Alphabet was not a bearish view on the company but a capital allocation decision, using it as a source of funds to purchase what he deemed a more attractive opportunity in Microsoft. Ackman believes the market may be undervaluing two of Microsoft's core assets. The first is the Microsoft 365 suite, deeply embedded in enterprise workflows, which he described as having a "virtually unassailable" moat. The second is Microsoft's approximately 27% economic interest in OpenAI, which he estimates to be worth around $200 billion, equivalent to about 7% of Microsoft's total market capitalization. According to its financial report, Microsoft's cloud business Azure grew 39% on a constant currency basis, nearing a 40% growth rate. The company's AI-related business reached an annualized revenue run rate of $37 billion, up 123% year-over-year. Although Microsoft plans to increase its capital expenditures to $190 billion in fiscal year 2026 for AI infrastructure, Ackman views this as a long-term investment rather than a short-term cost pressure. Microsoft's stock has declined approximately 15% year-to-date, underperforming the broader market.
Comments