Cloud Computing Helps Power Microsoft Earnings
July 20 2017 - 4:08PM
Dow Jones News
By Jay Greene
Once written off as a tech has-been, Microsoft Corp. continued
its rebirth as a force in cloud-computing, posting double-digit
gains in its business selling web-based services to corporate
customers.
The venerable software giant has solidified its spot as the No.
2 provider of on-demand computing processing and storage behind
market pioneer Amazon.com Inc. In its fiscal fourth quarter,
Microsoft notched gains in its Azure cloud-computing business and
Office 365, the online version of its widely used productivity
software.
Revenue from the Redmond, Wash., company's Intelligent Cloud
segment, which includes Azure, rose 11% to $7.4 billion. In the
Productivity and Business Processes segment, which includes the
Office franchise, revenue climbed 21% to $8.4 billion.
Microsoft doesn't disclose revenue figures for its Azure and
Office 365 businesses, but it said Azure revenue jumped 97% and
Office 365 revenue rose 43%.
Overall, Microsoft posted $6.51 billion in fourth-quarter net
income, or 83 cents a share, compared with a profit of $3.12
billion, or 39 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding the impact of
revenue deferrals and other items, adjusted earnings climbed to 98
cents from 69 cents a year earlier.
Revenue rose 13% to $23.32 billion and was $24.7 billion when
adjusted to reflect Windows 10 revenue deferrals.
Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Market Intelligence expected
Microsoft to report adjusted per-share earnings of 71 cents on
$24.29 billion in adjusted revenue.
Shares rose 1.5% to $75 in after-hours trading after results
beat expectations. The software giant's shares closed at a record
on Thursday, after setting its previous high a day earlier.
Write to Jay Greene at Jay.Greene@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 20, 2017 16:53 ET (20:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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