Microsoft Earnings Exceed Expectations
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Demand for personal computers loaded with its Windows operating system and strong sales of its Halo 3 video game helped lift Microsoftâs quarterly profit to $4.29 billion.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O on Thursday  posted higher quarterly earnings as revenue rose 12 percent,  but its shares fell after the world's largest software market  said current quarter sales would fall below Wall Street  expectations.
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Microsoft beat Wall Street expectations for both revenue and EPS (earnings per share) for its fiscal 2008 second quarter, attributing its strong quarter to sales of core client products, such as Windows Vista and Office 2007, as well as Exchange and SharePoint server software.For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Microsoft reported revenue of $16.37 billion, an increase of 30 percent year over year and a number that solidly beat the $15.95 billion in revenue that Thomson Financial analysts had estimated. Last year for the same period, Microsoft reported $12.54 billion in revenue.Diluted earnings per share were $0.50, an increase of 92 percent over the $0.27 in EPS reported last year, and $0.04 higher than Thomson Financial estimates of $0.46. Operating income for the quarter was $6.48 billion, an increase of 92 percent from the $3.47 billion reported for the same period last year.Microsoft&#39;s year-over-year percentage growth is higher than normal due to a deferral of $1.64 billion in revenue and operating income, as well as $0.11 of diluted earnings per share from the second to the third quarter of fiscal 2007. This deferred revenue contributed to the higher-than-average second-quarter percentage growth. Without these deferrals, second-quarter growth rates for revenue, operating income and earnings per share would be 15 percent, 27 percent and 32 percent, respectively, for the quarter reported Thursday.Ahead of Microsoft&#39;s announcement, analysts had expected the company to report a strong quarter even among economic uncertainty and fears that the U.S. economy is entering a recession.Microsoft&#39;s client business, on sales of Windows Vista, was especially strong in the quarter, with $4.34 billion in revenue compared to $2.59 billion in revenue a year ago. According to Microsoft, its client business has grown 20 percent on average since Windows Vista was made available nearly a year ago, and the company believes Vista began hitting its stride for adoption among customers and partners in the second quarter. According to Microsoft, it has sold more than 100 million licenses for Vista.Looking ahead to the next quarter, which ends March 31, Microsoft said Thursday that it expects revenue in the range of $14.3 billion to $14.6 billion; operating income in the range of $5.6 billion to $5.7 billion; and diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.43 to $0.45.For the full fiscal year ending June 30, Microsoft expects revenue in the range of $59.9 billion to $60.5 billion; operating income in the range of $24.2 billion to $24.4 billion; and diluted EPS in the range of $1.85 to $1.88.
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Microsoft said Thursday that its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose sharply, beating Wall Street estimates, amid strong demand for the company's server products and heavy holiday sales of its Halo 2 video game.
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Personal income, boosted by a large dividend payment from computer software giant Microsoft Corp., shot up by a record 3.7 percent in December.
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Microsoft Corp.  on Thursday posted higher quarterly earnings as revenue rose 12 percent, but its shares fell after the world's largest software maker said current quarter sales would fall below Wall Street expectations.
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Software maker Computer  Associates International Ltd. , on Wednesday posted better-than-expected quarterly results and said full-year earnings will exceed Wall Street estimates, aided by cost-cutting.
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Strong sales of new and old products alike led Microsoft to its fastest first-quarter growth in seven years with the company reporting growth in all five business segments and both revenue and EPS (earnings per share) that beat analyst expectations.Revenue for the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30 was up 27 percent at $13.76 billion compared to $10.81 billion a year ago, Microsoft said Thursday. Consensus estimates from Thomson First Call analysts were for the company to generate revenue of $12.57 billion. Microsoft&#39;s EPS for the quarter was $0.45, which also soundly beat Thomson First Call consensus estimate of $0.39. Net income for the quarter was $4.29 billion, a 23 percent increase over the $3.48 billion reported a year ago.At $5.92 billion, operating income for the quarter also had double-digit percentage growth: An increase of more than 25 percent over operating income reported for the same period last year of $4.47 billion.Microsoft&#39;s first quarter was buoyed by the highly anticipated launch of the Xbox 360 game Halo 3 on Sept. 25, just days before the quarter&#39;s close. In its first 24 hours on sale, the game brought in $170 million in sales; it became the fastest selling video game in history after being in the market for just a week and a half, according to the company.Strong performances from Microsoft&#39;s client, business, server and tools, and online divisions also contributed to revenue growth in the quarter. In particular, Microsoft said sales of its Windows Vista OS experienced double-digit growth through multi-year business contracts, and demand for Microsoft Office, Windows Server, and SQL Server was also high.Looking ahead, Microsoft said it expects to report revenue in the range of $15.6 billion to $16.1 billion for its second quarter, which ends Dec. 31. Operating income is expected to be in the range of $5.9 billion to $6.1 billion, while diluted EPS are expected to be between $0.44 to $0.46 for the second quarter, the company said.For its fiscal year 2008, Microsoft expects revenue in the range of $58.8 billion to $59.7 billion and operating income in the range of $23.3 billion to $23.7 billion. Diluted earnings per share are expected to be between $1.78 and $1.81 for the fiscal year, the company said. These new numbers were increases in Microsoft&#39;s guidance for the year from previous forecasts of $56.8 billion to $57.8 billion in revenue and $1.69 and $1.73 in EPS for the year.On a conference call Thursday, Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell said the company raised its financial guidance for the year due to improved outlooks for Microsoft&#39;s client business, its server and tools operation, and the Microsoft Business division.Sales of Vista seem to be on an uptick, and the fact that many long-term contracts Microsoft has with enterprise customers were up for renewal during the quarter helped fuel some of the revenue growth for the OS. Liddell expects that although companies have signed up for Vista in their contracts, many won&#39;t adopt it until the arrival of Vista Service Pack 1, expected in the first calendar quarter of 2008.&quot;It&#39;s still early days&quot; for Vista adoption, he said.Though analysts on the call gave Microsoft kudos for the quarter, there was still criticism about the performance of Microsoft&#39;s Online Services Division (OSD), the home of Microsoft&#39;s search and online advertising business. Revenue for the division grew only 25 percent year over year despite the close during the quarter of&#160;Microsoft&#39;s $6 billion acquisition of digital services agency aQuantive, a company expected to fuel growth in online advertising revenue.Liddell acknowledged on the call that this kind of growth for OSD is &quot;acceptable, but not stellar,&quot; saying, &quot;we&#39;d like to see it higher.&quot;This story was updated on October 25, 2007
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Microsoft reported surprising strong quarterly sales and profit growth, well ahead of Wall Streetâs expectations, which sent its stock up 12 percent in after-hours trading.
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Amid strong quarterly earnings, Microsoft said it is seeing signs of strength in enterprise spending, particularly in software.
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REDMOND, Washington, Oct 21  - The world&#39;s biggest software company, Microsoft Corp, said Thursday that its first quarter profits swelled to 2.9 billion dollars as consumers and businesses pumped up demand for new computers.
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Microsoft posted a rise in quarterly profit Thursday, boosted by healthy demand for personal computers loaded with its Windows operating system and strong sales of its "Halo 3" video game.
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Despite a slight seasonal dip, the software maker surpasses earnings expectations, as year-over-year growth comes in strong.
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Oracle reported second-quarter 2005 earnings that beat analyst expectations on Monday, thanks to new software revenue and continued gains from licence updates and product support.
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The stock market rebounded, with Microsoft shares rising to their highest level in six years after the companyâs profit exceeded Wall Street expectations.
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Microsoft  signaled confidence to a rattled stock market by raising its full-year earnings outlook above Wall Street targets and reporting a 79 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday.
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Microsoft Corp.'s quarterly earnings rose 11 percent over the comparable quarter last year, with strongest growth in sales of server software.