Microsoft is sliding ahead of earnings

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

• Microsoft is set to report its first-quarter earnings after Wednesday's closing bell.
• Shares were down about 2% ahead of the results.
• Morgan Stanley recently said that Microsoft's building of a first party content library positions it for the coming revolution in gaming and streaming.
• Watch Microsoft trade in real time here.

Microsoft slid 2% on Wednesday ahead of its first-quarter earnings report, which is due out after the closing bell.

The drop came amid broader weakness in the tech sector, with the Nasdaq tumbling more 1.7%. The weakness in tech comes after Texas Instruments slashed its forecast, AT&T reported weak subscriber results , and as chipmakers were hit hard ahead of earnings.

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As for Microsoft, investors have been worried about sales of its Xbox console amid competition from Nintendo's first-party titles, and Google's newly released video-game streaming service that allows users to play high quality video games through their Chrome browser.

But Morgan Stanley analysts Keith Weiss is bullish on the tech giant, saying Microsoft's compelling content libraries can catch up with Xbox's exclusive game supply. He also thinks the company can build the capability to stream games to a broad set of devices, including consoles, PCs and mobile phones.

Microsoft's building of a first-party content library "well-positions Microsoft for the coming evolutions in gaming, subscription pricing and cloud streaming," Weiss said in a note sent out to clients recently.

He has an "overweight" position and a $130 price target - 23% above where shares were trading on Wednesday.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect Microsoft to report earnings of $0.96 a share on revenue of $27.90 billion. Looking at the full year, Wall Street analysts are expecting a profit of $4.27 per share and revenue of $122.83 billion.

Shares were down 24% this year.

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