Jefferies thinks the shift toward artificial intelligence will disproportionately aid Microsoft . The firm listed Microsoft as the top pick among 12 companies least at risk from the growing prominence of AI. Jefferies reiterated a buy rating on the tech giant stock Tuesday, with a new $400 per share price target, implying 24.5% upside to Jefferies' price target. "MSFT has taken pole position in what is likely to be a decade-long industry evolution," Jefferies analyst Brent Thill said. "AMZN won round 1 of Cloud wars. MSFT could be the winner of round 2." Microsoft has been planning to shift heavily toward AI for some time, which Jefferies highlighted as underpinning the company's prominence in the space to date. "Our expert noted that Microsoft has been working to position itself as the AI company and AI cloud for some time, starting with GitHub Copilot and continuing with OpenAI investments/recent AI related announcements," Thill said. Microsoft has been a market stalwart this year, surging nearly 34%. MSFT YTD mountain Microsoft stock YTD — CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
