New
On one hand, Microsoft's third quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates: earnings per share registered at $0.68 vs. $0.63 estimated, and revenue hit $20.4 billion vs. $20.39 billion estimated. But those numbers represent a decline from a year ago. Sales fell 0.4%, while profit declined 6.5%.
What growth there was came from cloud services, like Office 365, where revenue grew over 100%, and Azure, which grew more than 150%. Bing US search grew market share too, reaching 18.6% and driving search advertising revenue up 38%.
But those highlights couldn't make up for declining personal computer sales. Microsoft also announced that it expects to close its $7 billion acquisition of
“This quarter’s results demonstrate the strength of our business, as well as the opportunities we see in a mobile-first, cloud-first world," CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. "We are making good progress in our consumer services like Bing and Office 365 Home, and our commercial customers continue to embrace our cloud solutions. Both position us well for long-term growth. We are focused on executing rapidly and delivering bold, innovative products that people love to use.”
On Wednesday,
Microsoft shares sank in morning trading on Thursday, then rallied in the afternoon to end the day nearly flat. Shares ticked up over 2.6% in after hours trading on the earnings release.
