Investors hope for Microsoft rally
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Some of Microsoft's investors are betting the shares of the world's largest software maker are poised to gain after languishing for five years.
"We expect revenue growth to accelerate, margins to expand and earnings to grow faster than revenue," said Mark Lebovitz, who is buying more shares for his technology fund at Munder Capital Management in Birmingham, Mich. The firm has owned the stock since 1991 and manages $41.4 billion.
The shareholders argue the next version of the Windows software that runs 95 percent of the world's personal computers will spur sales growth, 20 years after Microsoft first sold stock to the public. Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s Rick Sherlund expects sales to rise more than 10 percent for the next three years. Microsoft sales gained 8 percent in the year through June 2005, after rising 14 percent the previous year and 13 percent the year before.