 Welcome, traders, to another tick mill earning season preview with me, Patrick Mundley, before we jump into today's report, as always want to adhere to the risk disclaimer. Most pertinent to today's presentation is the fact that views and opinions expressed by me are solely mine, and they're not indicative or representative of those held by tick mill UK or tick mill Europe. Okay, so let's jump into today's report and we are looking at Microsoft. Microsoft are set to announce earnings after the close of trade in New York today. In terms of the earnings per share forecast, we're looking for $2.24 on revenue of $51.02 billion. For the business out of three business divisions, the intelligent cloud department has become Microsoft's gold mine contributing 40% of the group's total revenue with sound and solid growth momentum. In the previous quarter, the cloud services revenue increased 18% while whole groups revenue only added 2% for the to be reported quarterly earnings Microsoft anticipated revenues from the intelligent cloud will keep increasing at a pace between 17 and 20% to a range of 21.7 to $22 billion. However, Microsoft also flagged that Azure, the cloud's computing platform that switches one of the most, the main engines of the cloud business would slow down its growing speed by four or five percentage points to near 30% in the fiscal third quarter down from 46% in the same period last year. The trend in global personal computing industry has accelerated in the past year so did Microsoft's PC business in the six months ended December 31st the revenue from PC related businesses was down 11% year over year, while in the last three months the yearly downfall rates speeded up to 19%. First quarter of this year has marked the fifth consecutive quarter of global PC sales decline. As such, it's not difficult to see that this is a hard to stop slide will further falter the demand for all the product line under the umbrella of personal computing. This used to be the proud king of the PC, the PC division projected that this sector's revenue for Q3 will be between 11.9 and 12.3 billion indicating a 14 to 17% decline from the same quarter last year. Battlefield for artificial intelligence race has been set up and the smoke is getting intense Microsoft seemingly led the way for now thanks to its shared commitment with open AI to build a generative AI systems that GPT has convinced the world in 2023 that AI will become a topping layer of technology and prompt a new generation of platform shift. Clearly all tech giants are not hesitated to go all in in the AI race and are ready to thrive in this new age Microsoft despite racing inches ahead now is facing fierce competition in its age old rivals alphabet Google's parent company unveiled a similar AI function in March for Gmail which is now used by 1.8 billion people around the world Apple disclosed a 48 45% of its M&A targets are now AI related compared to Microsoft's 23% in terms of bright minds meta has employed 23.5% of staff with AI skills while Microsoft's ratio is about 21.8% Additionally, the ticket to the AI race is very costly Microsoft has boosted its R&D investment in the previous quarter by 18% 6.8 billion, which saw its net margins fall from 36% to 30% in the September The next major wave of computing is being born Microsoft is not shy of its ambition to be the king of the new wave. The challenge being all its old foes are obviously thinking the same. Let's jump in and take a look at some of these statistical trading patterns around Microsoft earnings. Microsoft shares have moved higher in the immediate aftermath of earnings seven out of 12 previous reports on average stock has moved up 0.2% in the first day after trading based on the previous 12 earnings releases Microsoft is more likely to trade higher one day after earnings for an average game 0.2% on average the stock has moved higher by 2.4% On week after earnings from the analyst community out of the 49 analysts giving a racing on the stock over the past quarter 33 are a strong buy seven are a buy eight are a hold only one strong sell terms of price targets on the lower end we have that 212 level upper end is 335 and the average is 298 from an order flow and sentiment perspective that be noticeable buying 14605 contracts of the $300 call expiring on Friday options order flow sentiment in general has been bullish investor sentiment going into companies earnings has 65% bullish and expecting to be predicted move post earnings announcement is 4.7% that's an average of the actual earnings move in recent quarters of 3.4% So with all that said let's pull up the chart and see if we can identify any near term trading opportunities in the stock. So, given the setup I'm pretty pretty bullish Microsoft at the moment, there are two key areas that I'm going to pay attention to, as we head into the earnings, any breach closing breach of that 292 level, I want to engage on the long side. My target is actually initially going to be this 308 level which is a weekly equality objective versus the swing structure here in the swing low we have in place at 246 gives us a 308 on the upside 3, 314 is the yearly R1 pivot another magnet if we can get through the 300 level. And remember, we've got decent buying in that $300 call for Friday expiration. So, like I say, any move through 292 on a closing basis, I want to be engaged on the long side talking 308 and then onto that 314 area. Let's have some trend channel resistance coming in here on the four hour chart in around 312. Equally, any pullback into these, these prior highs here at the 275 level, also weekly projected range sport 273. Again, I watch for bullish reversal patterns there to engage on the long side same upside objectives that 308 and then 314 in extension at this stage, so I could close through 264 263 to suggest a bearish and bearish development that will obviously come with downside surprise in terms of the earnings, and then I can see as pulling back to monthly projected range for 248 and 245 as the next key sport levels below but for now, like I say I'm constructive and bullish. As always traders plan the trade trade the plan, and most importantly, manage your risk until next time. Thanks very much.