Cool new Microsoft Surface line could out-Apple its biggest design rival

Earlier today, I told my subscribers who own Microsoft to add to their position on dips. We are tracking a nice 62% gain so far in the stock, but that's only one way to make money with this name.

Just since April, using my simple two-step options strategy, members have had the opportunity to go for five rounds of gains in Microsoft — to the tune of 51.8%, 39.9%, 38.1%, 33.9% and 4.2% — all in just a few days' time.

And the opportunity to go for our next round of gains could very well be right around the corner.

Click here to get on board for my next round of recos, and read on to see why you'll want to do that right away …

New Microsoft computer for business is a design marvel

Microsoft has always held mindshare at big companies. Its Office suite of productivity tools is ubiquitous. Yet, in the era of consumer-focused iPhones and MacBooks, the company has struggled to win hearts.

But its new Surface hardware portfolio — modular computers built for business collaboration — is emerging little by little. And they are gorgeous.

These days, that's more important than ever.

It's easy to cede design to Apple. Corporate branding tells us that its products are the most beautiful ever made. The lines are a delight to the eye. The premium materials and build quality are without rival, the marketing people say. And Cupertino dominates the high end of the smartphone market with aspirational devices, an important consideration.

Microsoft's Windows Phone officially died 2 years ago. Although, in fairness, it was dead on arrival when it launched in 2012.

It was too blocky, too uncool … too Windows.

The Surface Hub 2 is Microsoft's vision of the "office of the future." Aesthetically, it's finally ready to compete with Apple.

Microsoft's new Surface line of products dropped the Windows branding and stepped up the design. The lightweight Surface Pro devices are highly recommended in corporate settings for their thin form factor, portability and full assortment of peripheral ports.

MacBooks are cool, but the dongle life does not fly with busy, stressed-out business travelers. Macs desktops have always been a favorite of design professionals, but Microsoft is going after that audience, too …

The Surface Studio is an all-in-one PC aimed at design professionals. Its sexy 28-inch PixelSense display supports touch, and it pivots gracefully to a giant drawing board thanks to a silky smooth, well-engineered hinge system.

Surface Hub shares the design sense of Studio while packing the functionality of Pro. It looks like a giant high-resolution screen on wheels. An onboard accelerometer allows the software orientation to rotate seamlessly from portrait to landscape.

A fingerprint sensor and some clever software tricks, displayed in this demo, lets multiple users to login on the same device, pull down information from separate cloud storage accounts, and share information.

More interesting, Surface Hub is built around the idea of modularity. It uses removable PC cartridges which ostensibly house all the brains of the device. In theory, Hub is upgradeable, futureproof. This will be a big selling feature for enterprises.

The new hardware comes just in time. An alliance between Salesforce.com (CRM) and Apple will bring the Siri digital assistant, and more of the Mac ecosystem, to enterprises.

Related story: Tech giants' data alliances look like team effort for investors

As Microsoft broadens its business portfolio, Salesforce has become an unlikely competitor. The companies engaged in a bitter bidding war in 2016 for LinkedIn, a professional social media portal. More recently, Microsoft announced a data-sharing alliance with SAP (SAP) and Adobe Systems (ADBE), two software companies that compete directly with Salesforce for customer relationship management clients.

Surface Hub is aimed directly at corporate boardrooms. It's Microsoft showing it can one-up Cupertino with design and functionality.

Microsoft shares are up 33% this year. The company reported in July that second-quarter revenues at its Azure Cloud and Surface units rose 89% and 35%, respectively. Total sales reached $26.8 billion, up 15.6%. The market capitalization is $877 billion. The price is 23.1 times forward earnings.

The story is as strong as ever. If you have a position in Microsoft, add to it regularly on dips. If not, consider establishing one on the next pullback.

And if you'd rather make a bet that helps you grow your wealth rapidly without tying up a big chunk of capital, consider buying call options. In my Strategic Options trading service, I helped my subscribers go for five rounds of gains in Microsoft just since April — to the tune of 51.8%, 39.9%, 38.1%, 33.9% and 4.2% — each banked within a week of opening the trade, and usually much quicker than that.

My simple two-step options strategy works on all kinds of stocks — techs, industrials, consumer staples — you name it — and hasn't had a single losing year since I started using it in 2012. See how you can use this approach to go for average annual gains of 99.3%, and grab your $2,005 discount in the next 48 hours only, when you click this link here.

Best wishes,
Jon D. Markman