Microsoft posted better-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday, benefiting from sustained demand for its cloud computing activities that offset a drop in consumer PC sales.
The IT giant saw its shares rise 4% in after-hours trading on Wall Street. This is a bright spot for a tech sector recently marked by the multiplication of mass layoff announcements in anticipation of an economic slump, while industry giants had benefited from a strong
growth of its activities during the coronavirus health crisis.
+31% for Azure
In the October-December period, the “Smart Cloud” division, which includes the Azure platform, posted revenue of $21.5 billion, Microsoft said, while consensus was $21.4 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Azure revenue increased 31% in the fourth quarter, in line with estimates compiled by Visible Alpha, as the platform continued to gain market share from Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Microsoft posted quarterly earnings per share of $2.32 on an adjusted basis, beating the consensus of $2.29. The group reported overall quarterly revenue rising 2% year-over-year to $52.7 billion, versus a consensus of $52.94 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
decrease in gain
Its net profit stood at 16,400 million, 12% less than the previous year, according to its results statement.
The company announced last week that it was laying off nearly 5% of its workforce, or about 10,000 employees, at the end of March to deal with economic uncertainty and changing customer priorities.
It also indicated on Monday that it would invest “several billion dollars” to expand its partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) specialist OpenAI, creator notably of the ChatGPT chatbot, which arouses excitement and dread even at the giant Google. . .
Source: BFM TV
