UBS Group released a report indicating that Microsoft (MSFT.US) slightly disappointed in the third quarter performance, especially its guidance for Azure growth in the quarter ending in December was lower than expected, with a growth rate of 31% to 32%, one percentage point less than the target of 32% to 33%, mainly due to delays in datacenter capacity expansion and revised downward eps forecast, primarily due to Microsoft's need to absorb the increased losses from OpenAI. Despite this setback, the bank still maintains a 'buy' rating, believing that the upcoming capacity in operation and potential AI inference growth in the first half of 2025 will restore market confidence.

The bank lowered the target price from $510 to $500, reduced next year's earnings per share forecast from $0.21 to $13, and lowered its forecast for next year's total revenue growth from 14.1% to 13.7%.