David Becker
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares fell fractionally in extended trading on Tuesday after the $3T tech behemoth reported fiscal second-quarter results that topped expectations, aided by strong results from its Azure cloud business.
For the period ending December 31, Microsoft earned $2.93 per share on $62B in revenue, as overall cloud revenue rose 24% year-over-year to $33.7B. Azure growth during the period was 30%, or 28% in constant currency and above the company’s previous guidance.
The Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes Azure, SQL Server, Windows Server and Nuance, generated $25.9B in sales for the period, above the previous forecast of $25.1B to $25.4B.
More Personal Computing, which includes the recently acquired Activision, Windows, Surface and Xbox, generated $16.9B in sales, at the high end of the previous guidance of $16.5B to $16.9B.
Productivity and Business Processes revenue, which includes Office, LinkedIn and Dynamics, rose 13% to $19.2B.
A consensus of analysts expected the company to earn $2.77 per share on $61.13B in revenue.
“We’ve moved from talking about AI to applying AI at scale,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “By infusing AI across every layer of our tech stack, we’re winning new customers and helping drive new benefits and productivity gains across every sector.”
For the coming quarter, Microsoft said it expects overall revenue to be between $60B and $61B, with Azure revenue growth stable compared to the second-quarter.
(Story has been updated to include guidance from the conference call.)