Shares of Microsoft (MS), the world's largest software maker, fell more than 4% on the 4th (local time) as forecasts that it will face a sharp slowdown in growth in its cloud computing business.
Investment bank UBS analyzed in a report that the growth of Microsoft's core business, the cloud service sector, "is entering a phase of rapid deceleration."
He warned that the slowdown in growth of Microsoft's cloud business this year and next could be worse than investors expected.
In addition, it pointed out that spending on corporate software will also decrease as companies cut costs and restructure their workforce due to concerns about the economic downturn, which could put a burden on Microsoft's 'Office 365' software business.
UBS lowered its investment opinion on Microsoft from 'Buy' to 'Neutral', and also lowered its target price from $300 to $250.
At the time of the quarterly earnings announcement in October of last year, MS expected sales of cloud service 'Azure' to slow, and Wall Street analysts also lowered Microsoft's earnings per share and sales forecasts by 5.6% and 3.7%, respectively, for the past three months.
MS stock closed at $229.10, down 4.37% on the New York Stock Exchange on the day due to UBS' downgrading of investment opinions.
(Photo = Getty Image Korea)