11:46 AM EDT, 04/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT ) is expected to deliver "upside across the board" in Q3 Thursday, driven mainly by Azure's impressive growth nearing 30%, Wedbush said in a note Tuesday.

"All the Street will be watching to gauge the adoption of the AI Revolution," Wedbush analysts, including Daniel Ives and Scott Devitt, said. "We view this as Microsoft's ( MSFT ) "iPhone Moment" with AI set to change the cloud growth trajectory in Redmond the next few years and recent checks giving further confidence in this dynamic."

The analysts said they saw an acceleration of adoption for generative AI and Copilot activity, resulting in more Azure cloud deal flow, with major momentum heading into the next 6 to 12 months.

They said robust Copilot deployments could contribute an additional $25 billion to $30 billion to revenue by FY25.

Wedbush maintained its outperform rating on Microsoft's ( MSFT ) stock and a price target of $500.

Price: 406.11, Change: +5.15, Percent Change: +1.28