03:38 PM EDT, 04/28/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT ) is expected to report better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results, though its outlook for the ongoing quarter is likely to factor in growing economic uncertainty, Truist Securities said Monday.

The technology giant is scheduled to release third-quarter results Wednesday. Analysts polled by FactSet expect GAAP earnings of $3.21 a share on revenue of $68.43 billion.

"We anticipate upside to consensus in the reported numbers, but we expect that the company will offer a conservative guide in light of the rising macro uncertainty that we have seen over the last month," Truist Managing Director Joel Fishbein Jr. said in a note to clients.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on imports from several nations, including China and Japan. Trump later declared a 90-day pause on duties for non-retaliating countries. However, the US and China have been in a deadlock.

Truist said industry participants have mixed feedback on the company's family of copilots, including Microsoft ( MSFT ) 365 Copilot.

"On the positive side, we have received strong feedback on adoption behavior with more logos and more seats in existing customers coming online," Fishbein wrote. "On the negative, we believe that pricing visibility remains murky, and we came away with unclear takeaways on how to interpret the stickiness of per-seat pricing."

Cloud migrations and artificial intelligence could drive reacceleration in the company's Azure cloud-computing business in the second half of this year despite the current macro environment.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) is likely to benefit from OpenAI's new funding round and a recent increase in reported ChatGPT users. "We expect that (Microsoft ( MSFT )) will continue to view OpenAI inference resources as a top priority," the brokerage said.

Late last month, Microsoft ( MSFT )-backed OpenAI said it would raise $40 billion in new funding at a $300 billion post-money valuation.

Microsoft's ( MSFT ) capital expenditures are expected to moderate later in 2025, resulting in "some acceleration" in free cash flow growth next year. The company's ability to convert its capex investments into accelerating revenue growth is a "core topic" for investors, Fishbein said.

Truist reiterated its buy rating and a $600 price target on the company's stock, saying it continues to see "a number of runways" for growth.

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