Top 9 Stocks to Trade This Fall

Trade #8 – Microsoft (MSFT)

By Nick Atkeson and Andrew Houghton

Back-to-school and Windows 7 are two huge drivers for Microsoft (MSFT) heading into the rest of
the year. With the summer coming to an end, we are all headed back to work. For most of us, Microsoft is our primary work tool, and many of us will
want the latest and greatest. For corporations that are currently running on Vista, Windows 7 can’t come fast enough.

We saw evidence of Microsoft’s strength during the last week of August, as Dell (DELL) reported
better-than-expected earnings and talked about some seasonal improvement going forward (80% of Dell’s customers are corporate accounts), and Intel (INTC)
raised revenue guidance during its mid-quarter update.

Earnings estimates for MSFT for this year and next are $1.70 and $1.93, respectively. The stock is currently trading at 12.7 times the 2010 earnings
estimate, which is likely too conservative. If there is one back-to-school purchase you should make, it is MSFT.

NEXT – Trade #9