Microsoft might have its work cut out for it when it comes to improving on how things went overall for it in 2021.
After all, the software giant's earnings results continue to show it growing in areas such as cloud computing and personal computers. Microsoft (MSFT) also thinks so highly of its outlook that it believes it could surpass $50 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time with its next report. Investors should also be pleased with how Microsoft (MSFT) has performed on the stock market this year, as its shares have climbed more than 44% since the end of 2021.
And then there was the symbolic, if temporary, victory Microsoft (MSFT) could claim in October when it briefly took the title of World's Most Valuable Company away from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). So, needless to say, 2021 has been a good year for Microsoft (MSFT).
But, this begs the question of what 2022 might look like for Microsoft (MSFT), and what are going to be the top priorities for Chief Executive Satya Nadella. While Microsoft (MSFT) may still be best-known to many for its Windows operating system, its Microsoft Word program and its Xbox videogame console, the company's data platform and management offerings are likely the areas where Nadella is focusing much of his attention.
That's the opinion of Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss, who said that Nadella's earnings call comments "match well to the key priorities Microsoft is investing most aggressively behind." Based on how data offerings such as platforms and databases like Azure are playing a role in Microsoft's (MSFT) growth, it should come as no surprise that Nadella would make such areas a focus of the company's overall strategy for the foreseeable future.
Weiss noted that based on industry data, Microsoft (MSFT) has become the No. 1 vendor for data management offerings, with a 28% share of the market. For comparison, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is the No. 2 company, with a 22% market share, and Amazon Web Services (NASDAQ:AMZN) is in third place with 9% of the data management market.
Weiss, who has an outperform rating and $364-a-share target price on Microsoft's (MSFT) stock, noted that data platform products and services made up about 12% of the company's total revenue during the first half of 2021, up from 10% in 2017. Cloud revenue has also more than doubled over that same period, from 3% to approximately 7% of sales, and Weiss said he expects such sales to be "a key source" of Microsoft's business growth heading into 2022.
Weiss said that because of Microsoft's strong positioning in the data management market, and its management's high level of focus on data as part of the broader digital transformation, "Within this data platform market, Microsoft's broad collection of cloud and on-premise data offerings lead to a No. 1 market position."
Weiss, and other Morgan Stanley analysts, also rated Microsoft (MSFT) as to top pick for 2022 as part of a "gut check" look at the software sector for next year.