'Huge Cloud Growth' Expected For Microsoft Earnings, Not Much Else

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is among the many high-profile tech companies that will report on Tuesday, July 21. The firm will be joined by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and GoPro Inc (NASDAQ: GPRO).As always, analysts have high expectations for the iPhone maker, but they are decidedly mixed on GoPro and Yahoo. Expectations are somewhat tempered for Microsoft."I see these earnings similar to last quarter; not stellar but not bad, either," Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told Benzinga. "The full positive impact of Windows 10 will not have hit yet, but we should see some positive progress from Azure."Former hedge fund manager Cody Willard believes that Microsoft will have "huge cloud growth.""Every other aspect of their business will disappoint," Willard, who serves as the chairman of Scutify (a financial social network) and Futr, told Benzinga.

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'A Little Tough'

Sean Udall, CIO of Quantum Trading Strategies and author of The TechStrat Report, acknowledged that the three quarters have been "a little bit tough" for Microsoft."They don't have the benefit of the forced upgrade cycle anymore," Udall told Benzinga. "I think that started going away about two quarters ago. They're coming up on Windows 10. The problem is it's not going to help on this quarter."Regardless, Udall said that Microsoft "usually finds a way to beat the number.""I think Windows 10 is gonna surprise," Udall added. "I still Microsoft needs to do a lot of strategic M&A and use the power of the balance sheet better. Until then, they have what they have. It just makes an inordinate amount of money. This might be the last mediocre, bad quarter. I think foreign currency headwinds are going to be alleviated. I think Windows 10 is going to be better than most people think."Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.