"I'm not so concerned about Apple as much as just the whole market getting commoditized and making it very difficult in the tablet market," he said. "And so on the consumer side, I think that's a real tough market for Microsoft. If you don't need Office, then you really don't need to pay a premium for their products."
Microsoft's latest earnings report comes days after a source close to the matter told CNBC that the company is in talks with Silver Lake Partners and Dell's CEO Michael Dell to invest $1 billion to $3 billion in a leveraged buyout of the personal computer maker.
Sherlund said he's seen Microsoft engage in strategic investments that are not necessarily intended for a direct return. Through these deals, the company has nurtured its ecosystems and helped its partners, he said.
"Microsoft generates that much cash in a month or two, so it's just not important to me as an investor," he said. "If they park $2 billion or $3 billion in Dell stock for a while and help out a partner, hopefully they'll get some strategic benefit of keeping Dell viable as an important partner of theirs."
— Written by CNBC's Katie Little. Follow here on Twitter @katie_little_
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Disclosure: The Nomura Group expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from Microsoft in the next three months.