Microsoft reports fiscal first-quarter results on October 28 as hyperscaler stocks have fallen roughly a quarter since early May on worries about how AI spending will be financed. In fiscal 2026 its operating cash flow of $182.9 billion exceeded $115.9 billion of capex by $67.0 billion, but capex took nearly two-thirds of operating cash, up from about a third in fiscal 2023. From fiscal 2027, more future data center leases will be classed as operating leases, so those payments will come out of operating cash and weigh more on free cash flow. Analysts expect $34.6 billion of free cash flow for fiscal 2027, and Microsoft ended June with $76.8 billion of cash and short-term investments against $46.1 billion of bonds. At 27x forward earnings, the stock trades below its five-year average of 29x.
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Related tickers and likely impact
MSFT
• NeutralMicrosoft
Relevance: high
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Systems Software |
| Market cap | $3.9T |
| Close on 10/26/2026 | 532.75 |
| Change that session | +1.57% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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