At the Hanover Messe industrial trade fair on Tuesday Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and BMW Group announced a partnership to establish an Open Manufacturing Platform aimed to foster innovation and to speed up the development of “smart” factories.
Microsoft shares closed higher for a fourth consecutive trading session on NASDAQ on Tuesday. The stock edged up 0.14% ($0.17) to $119.19, after touching an intraday high at $119.50, or a price level not seen since March 22nd ($119.59).
Shares of Microsoft Corporation have surged 17.35% so far in 2019 compared with a 14.38% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).
In 2018, Microsoft’s stock went up 18.74%, thus, it again outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.
The Open Manufacturing Platform is to be established on the Microsoft Azure IIoT cloud platform, which is already used by BMW. The platforms reference architecture is to be based on open-source standards, designed to lure other partners to participate.
“Microsoft is joining forces with the BMW Group to transform digital production efficiency across the industry,” Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Microsoft Cloud + AI Group, was quoted as saying by Reuters. “Our commitment to building an open community will create new opportunities for collaboration across the entire manufacturing value chain.”
According to Microsoft, the projects objective is to have an initial set of 4 to 6 partners by the end of this year and at least 15 initial use cases deployed in a production setting.
Meanwhile, BMW Group has already connected 3 000 machines, robots and autonomous transport systems with an IIoT platform of its own, which is established on Microsoft Azure.
According to CNN Money, the 30 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Microsoft Corp’s stock price, have a median target of $127.50, with a high estimate of $160.00 and a low estimate of $75.00. The median estimate represents a 6.97% upside compared to the closing price of $119.19 on April 2nd.
The same media also reported that 28 out of 34 surveyed investment analysts had rated Microsoft Corp’s stock as “Buy”, while 2 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.
Weekly Pivot Levels
By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) are presented as follows:
Central Pivot Point – $117.39
R1 – $119.25
R2 – $120.57
R3 – $122.43
R4 – $124.30
S1 – $116.07
S2 – $114.21
S3 – $112.89
S4 – $111.58
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