THE MICROSOFT INVESTOR: Jul 19 - Business Insider

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MSFT Up With Tech?
The market is maintaining despite a miss on initial claims. Microsoft is up ahead of earnings. Microsoft will report TONIGHT after the close. Catalysts for the stock include Windows 8, Windows Server 8, Office 15 and Windows Phone 8; expansion in the smartphone market with primary hardware partner Nokia as well as tablet market with Surface; strides in cloud computing; profitability in the online business, including integration of Skype; and continued evolution of Kinect and next generation Xbox. The stock currently trades at 7.7x Enterprise Value / TTM Free Cash Flow.

JOIN US LIVE FOR MICROSOFT EARNINGS RESULTS TONIGHT (Business Insider)
We will be on hand for live commentary of earnings and the conference call tonight after the close. Check out our earnings preview.

Microsoft May Face First Loss Due To Write Down (Associated Press via Yahoo)
A flopped acquisition may lump Microsoft with the first loss in its 26-year history as a public company. The fiscal fourth-quarter numbers will include a $6.2 billion charge to reflect that Microsoft's 2007 acquisition of online ad service aQuantive. But the aQuantive-driven setback isn't likely to faze investors (because they already know it's coming), who are focused on what lies ahead for a company instead of dwelling on past mistakes.

Bing Deepens Ties With Foursquare (All Things Digital)
Two months after launching a more social version of its Bing search engine, Microsoft has added Foursquare integration. Now after completing a Bing search for a particular business or place of interest, any tips and recommendations posted on Foursquare will appear in Bing?s social sidebar. The update comes after Google?s recent similar Zagat integration with search and its relaunch of Places, now dubbed Google+ Local.

Launch Day Set For Windows 8 (The New York Times)
Microsoft has finally revealed when its biggest revision to its Windows operating system in years will be available to the public: October 26. The timing is not a surprise. This means that the company will also introduce its new Surface tablet computer on or around that date. With a new, smaller iPad expected to be announced by Apple before the end of the year and Google?s recent unveiling of the Nexus 7, there are going to be a lot of tablets for gift-givers to choose from during the holidays.

Questions About Office 2013 (TIME)
There?s a lot of aggressive evolution in the new Office. But...

• Why isn?t Microsoft introducing a full-on Metro edition of Office?
• Is the new Office a sign that the old Windows interface is still a living, breathing thing?
• Do consumers want to pay for Office as a service?
• Will Office make sense in Windows RT?

There's a whole host of other questions as well. Office dominates its product category. Yet the market is changing so rapidly that it?s not hard to envision scenarios in which it?s less of a given that the vast majority of people who use office-productivity tools use Office.

And Why No Office 2013 For Mac? (BGR)
Office 2013 was shown off at great length earlier this week for the Windows 8 operating system, but it was curious to some that no mention of OS X was made during Microsoft?s press conference. Meaning, Microsoft currently has no plans to release Office 2013 for Mac. "We haven?t announced the next release of Office for Mac," a Microsoft spokesperson told the site. Microsoft does reportedly have plans to bring new SkyDrive cloud storage features to Office 2011 for Mac in a future update.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-microsoft-investor-jul-19-2012-7

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