cash

It generates nearly $100 billion in free cash flow each year and, unlike its megacap tech peers, isn’t spending like an inebriated sailor on artificial intelligence.

We do a lot of retirement cash flow planning for clients, projecting income and expenses and how those are going to affect their investment portfolio over time.

This disciplined capital allocation — returning all free cash flow to shareholders via dividends and buybacks — makes it practically saintly.

“However, valuation is stretched, capex elevated, free cash flow negative, competition fierce, and the macro treacherous,” the firm wrote.

Microsoft remains in pole position to cash in on artificial-intelligence spending, according to Morgan Stanley’s quarterly survey of chief information officers.