Bullish options activity implies an earnings win for MSFT

Options traders have been buying more calls than puts on Microsoft ahead of earnings, implying that they expect the stock to beat analyst expectations. It's close to the bottom of its recent trading range right now, making it a good buy today for a potential pre-earnings pop as well as a post-earnings bump. Popular strike prices are 140, 142.50, and 145.

Microsoft is one of the more reasonably valued mega cap stocks right now, with a P/E of 27 and an 8.7/10 analyst score. S&P Capital IQ rates it undervalued. Driving Microsoft's growth right now are its Azure, LinkedIn, and Dynamic 365 platforms. It's also getting back into the phone game, this time using Android rather than its own Windows operating system.