Microsoft rebound ahead of Nasdaq open puts AI spending in spotlight
Microsoft Corporation starts the U.S. premarket session Monday with a setup that’s more straightforward than it was late last week. But holders are staring at the same issue: does the stock deserve its software valuation when the company is spending like an infrastructure player? Nasdaq lists premarket hours as 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern, and regular hours at 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The exchange also marks July 3 as closed for the Independence Day observed holiday. Microsoft’s latest quote put the stock at $372.97, up $20.04 from its last close. With a $2.777 trillion market cap in the same quote, that gain added roughly $149 billion in market value. That figure is about 9.4 times Microsoft’s $15.8 billion in free cash flow for its fiscal third quarter and about 4.7 times its $31.9 billion capital spend for the period.