As Microsoft nears $100 per share analyst predict $ 1 trillion valuation by next year

Microsoft’s share price is hitting new highs today ahead of earnings, closing at $94.06 and rising further after hours.

Analysts have been upgrading the company pre-earnings, with  Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow predicting gaming as being a significant earnings driver due to Microsoft’s Netflix for Games subscription push and set a price target of $100 per share.

Even more optimistic is  Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., who sees increasing value in Microsoft cloud and Office subscription business, and who predict Microsoft’s market cap will appreciate by 10-20% every year, hitting a market capitalisation of $1 trillion by 2019

“If you believe, as we do, that it is reasonable to expect MSFT to appreciate between 10-20% annually for the next five years, you get to the Big T as early as calendar Q4 2019, or more like sometime in early 2020,” wrote Davis.

Thomson Reuters recently crowned Microsoft the world’s top 100 leading technology company based on performance across eight pillars: Financial, Management and Investor Confidence, Risk and Resilience, Legal Compliance, Innovation, People and Social Responsibility, Environmental Impact, and Reputation.