Microsoft Corp. shares have fallen to attractive levels after a selloff that caused the software maker to lose its status as the world’s biggest technology company by market value, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Microsoft slumped 18 percent in May through yesterday, when Apple Inc.’s market value exceeded Microsoft’s by $2.94 billion. Technology companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 11 percent since April 30. Microsoft shares lost 4.1 percent yesterday after Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said that the effects of the European debt crisis will spread outside the region.
“While European contagion is a concern, Ballmer’s comments were not Microsoft specific,” Sarah Friar, an analyst at New York-based Goldman Sachs, wrote in a report to clients dated yesterday. “The shares underperformed large-cap tech despite having relatively lower exposure outside of the U.S. Given significant underperformance and attractive valuation levels, we are buyers of the shares.”
Microsoft had the biggest gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, surging 5.3 percent to $26.34 at 10:54 a.m. in New York. It jumped 5.4 percent earlier, the most intraday since Oct. 23.
