Microsoft’s earnings for the latest quarter edged up 6% to match analyst estimates, new figures show.
The results for the July-September period were highlighted by revived growth in the division that includes the software maker’s Windows franchise. It is the first time that Microsoft has posted a year-over-year gain in Windows revenue since the end of 2010.
The US company also narrowed its losses in its online division, which has struggled to catch up to Google in the internet’s lucrative search advertising market.
Microsoft earned 5.7 billion US dollars (£3.6 billion) for its fiscal first quarter. That compared with net income of 5.4 billion US dollars (£3.4 billion) at the same time last year. The earnings matched the average estimate among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue increased 7% from last year to 17.37 billion US dollars (£10.9 billion) – about 130 million US dollars (£82 million) above analyst forecasts.
By surpassing Wall Street’s revenue hurdle, Microsoft achieved something that eluded rival Apple during the same period.
Although Apple’s revenue in the most recent quarter surged 39%, the increase did not measure up to analyst expectations. The shortfall triggered a sharp drop in Apple’s stock price.
But investors did not immediately reward Microsoft for its showing either. The software maker’s shares fell 36 cents to 26.68 US dollars (£16.45) in extended trading.
Microsoft’s stock price has been held back by worries that it is not adapting quickly enough as more people use smartphones and computer tablets such as Apple’s iPad instead of desktop and laptop computers that run on the Windows operating system. Three consecutive quarters in declining Windows revenue reinforced those concerns.
In the latest quarter, though, revenue in the Windows division crept up nearly 2% to 4.87 billion US dollars (£3 billion). The modest gain was slightly below the 3.2%-3.6% rise in personal computer shipments during the quarter, based on estimates by Gartner and IDC.
Source : Orange News
