Microsoft Stock Is on Track to Trail the S&P 500 for a 3rd Straight Year. History Says What Happened After Its Last 2 Streaks.
The software giant's past two lagging streaks ended very differently. Which one does this one look like?
Overview
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has made money for shareholders in both of the past two years. It just hasn't kept up with the market. Including reinvested dividends, the shares gained around 13% in 2024 and about 16% in 2025. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) returned about 25% and 18% on the same basis.
This year looks similar so far. Shares trade near $525 as of this writing, for a 2026 total return of about 9%, versus about 15% for the index. And that's even after the stock gained almost 50% from its late-June close of about $353.
Details
If Microsoft finishes 2026 behind, it'd be a third straight year of trailing the index. It's happened just twice since the software giant went public in 1986 -- from 2003 through 2005, and from 2010 through 2012.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.