Microsoft shares have approached their all-time high for the first time in a year. Should you buy them?

Bloomberg noted that shares of Microsoft, the software developer and cloud service provider, approached their first record closing price in nearly a year. On October 13, the company’s shares rose 1.8% to $551.13, already surpassing the intraday high of October 28, 2025, which was just over $550. If the shares close above $542, it will mark a new all-time high. At the time of publication, the shares had slowed their rise and were trading just above $545.

The company announced yesterday the release of its new Maia 300 AI chips and plans to deploy more than 1 million of these graphics accelerators by 2027 to support its AI services. The Maia chips are designed to output data in response to user requests and could potentially allow the company to reduce its reliance on more expensive and scarce accelerators from Nvidia.

Since hitting a low in June, Microsoft’s stock has risen by more than 50%, adding approximately $1.5 trillion to the company’s market capitalization, as investor sentiment toward Microsoft and its position in the field of artificial intelligence continues to improve, Bloomberg notes. Just a few months ago, the company was among the worst performers in the S&P 500 amid concerns that massive spending on AI infrastructure was not yielding sufficient returns, as well as fears that the development of artificial intelligence could disrupt the traditional business model of software developers. In June, Microsoft’s stock plummeted 17%, and the company lost nearly $600 billion in market value—it was the software developer’s worst month since 2000. After the earnings report was released on July 29, the stock rebounded: the report showed the fastest revenue growth in Microsoft’s cloud business in four years. The next day, the stock jumped 16%, marking the start of a recovery that led Microsoft to post its best quarterly results since 1998, according to Bloomberg.

Following the July earnings report, at least two research firms upgraded their recommendations on Microsoft stock to “buy,” expressing confidence in the company’s ability to capitalize on growing demand for AI services. Of the 72 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who cover Microsoft, 68 recommend buying the company’s stock, and none advise selling. The average price target is $584, which implies growth potential of about 8% over the next 12 months relative to Monday’s closing price, according to Bloomberg data.

Despite the recent rally, Microsoft still ranks among the underperforming tech companies for 2026 due to weak performance in the first half of the year. Since the start of the year, its stock has risen by about 14%, in line with the S&P 500, while the Nasdaq 100 tech index has gained 21%. Among the tech giants of the “Magnificent Seven,” Microsoft’s performance is roughly on par with Meta Platforms, Alphabet, and Amazon, but lags behind Apple and Nvidia, whose shares have risen by more than 20% since the start of the year.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor