The 4-year bond from computer giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: ) is trading at about 93.53% of par in the secondary market. It was still necessary to count slightly more than 104% twelve months ago. Direct consequence: The investor can count on a return of around 4.3% for a security that benefits from the best available ratings.
In fact, this loan denominated in face values of 2,000 dollars for an issue size of 4 billion has an AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings and an Aaa rating from Moody’s. This is always the best rating available in the “Investment Grade” category.
Notable fact: The bond due August 8, 2026 and with a coupon of 2.4% is trading at a good discount on the secondary market, allowing Belgian resident investors to see a portion of the untaxed return, knowing that the capital gain realized during the sale or repayment of the value is not charged with the tax.
Office, Cloud, LinkedIn, Skype…
With a turnover of 176 billion dollars (+/- 171.3 billion euros) for its annual financial year 2021 (closed at the end of September), Microsoft is on the way among the computer giants, especially in the sector. software, where the company offers a wide range of software licenses and subscription products and services, including the Windows operating system that powers the vast majority of computers around the world.
If the American multinational is historically known for its successful office suite Office (Word word processing, Excel spreadsheets or PowerPoint presentation software to name a few…), Microsoft is also the world’s number two in the cloud: computing or cloud computing. This activity refers to data streams, corporate websites, customer management software that are hosted and managed by remote computer servers rather than on a local server or personal computer.
The company founded by Bill Gates has also pursued a policy of acquisitions and diversification, which today allows it to monitor LinkedIn’s professional network and Skype messages. The Microsoft group is also present in “gaming” with the Xbox game console and associated services (subscriptions, community, multi-game, etc.). The group led by Satya Nadella has further strengthened its position in the sector by announcing the purchase at the beginning of the year of Activision Blizzard (development and publishing of video games) for 69 billion dollars (+/- 67.2 billion euros).
Listed on Wall Street, Microsoft has a market value of around 58.5 billion dollars (+/- 57 billion euros).