Word: serveral
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...Microsoft (MSFT), the most shorted large tech company traded on any U.S. exchange, is a nearly ideal way to bet against software. It has dominant global market share in PC, server, and enterprise products used by large companies and governments. Microsoft is no longer considered a growth stock by Wall St., but it remains one of the most impressive corporate cash flow machines in the world. Microsoft's ongoing battle with Google (GOOG) over search and desktop software keeps it in the headlines regularly, and its quest to get control of Yahoo!'s (YHOO) search engine operation has gone...
...Revenue for the company's fiscal third quarter, which ended on March 31, fell 6% to $13.65 billion. Operating income was $4.4 billion, so Microsoft's software businesses still produces tremendous margins. The company blamed the weakness in the global PC and server markets for most of its troubles. The only really good news Microsoft had is that the latest versions of its flagship product, called Windows 7, will launch on time next year. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis...
...would be expected, Microsoft's largest business, its PC software operation, suffered a 15% decline in revenue to $3.4 billion. The division still made an operating profit of $2.5 billion. There are very few large businesses in the world with a margin that large. The company's server and tools division and business software operation had similarly impressive operating numbers...
...large and that makes it a captive of the economy. Microsoft is not going to outperform the trends in global technology spending by a great deal, and it will rarely do much worse. What will happen is that Microsoft will remain the dominant force in business, server, and PC software for years. The company's products are too ubiquitous and too well-designed to be easily replaced. Microsoft will have competition, but that competition will not transform the software industry overnight because Microsoft's products are the glue that holds together a very large portion of the technology used...
...also a hardware company; its workstations were the building blocks of the Internet during the Gold Rush days and its machines still dominate the high-end server business...