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MarketBeat
MarketBeat
Business
Chris Markoch

Microsoft Is Lagging the Market—But Its Moat May Matter More in 2026

Microsoft MarketBeat

It’s not often that investors have heard the words Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and “market laggard” in the same sentence. But that’s the situation with MSFT stock with just a few trading sessions left in 2025. To be clear, Microsoft is up more than 15% in 2025; that’s hardly a poor year. But it is trailing the S&P 500, which is up around 16% for the year.

Through its ownership stake in OpenAI, Microsoft has become a leader in generative AI. That’s one reason why some analysts are bullish on MSFT stock heading into 2026.

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