UPDATE 4-Microsoft profit, sales rise as growth stabilizes
171925
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday posted higher quarterly earnings as revenue rose 12 percent, but its shares fell after the world&#39;s
595320
Microsoft Corp  posted a 7  percent gain in net profit as demand for its Office software  and improved results from its online arm more than compensated  for a $1.1 billion charge to repair Xbox game consoles.
497233
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.
414020
Stocks rose on Friday after a higher profit forecast by Microsoft Corp.  lifted all three major indexes, and an upbeat outlook by lender Countrywide Financial Corp.  stemmed fears of financial-sector losses.
648880
Strong sales of new and old products alike led Microsoft to its fastest first-quarter growth in eight 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.
400171
Microsoft Corp. has announced revenue of $9.19 billion for the quarter, a 12% increase over revenue of $8.22 billion for the same period in the prior year.
452992
Stocks rose on Friday after a higher profit forecast by Microsoft Corp.  lifted all three major indexes and an upbeat outlook by lender Countrywide Financial Corp.  stemmed fears of financial-sector losses.
702470
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.
29465
Microsoft Corp.  on Thursday  posted a 23.5 percent drop in quarterly net profit, but raised  its outlook for the current fiscal year as orders for upcoming  products exceed expectations, lifting its shares by 6 percent.
262105
Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said its quarterly profit climbed as revenue rose 12 percent, driven by demand for the company's core software products from businesses and higher sales of personal computers and servers.
327932
YESTERDAY Close $31.51 Change +$0.59 52-WEEK High $31.84 Low $22.72 Microsoft Corp.'s fiscal fourth-quarter profit edged up 7 percent despite a hefty charge to cover the cost of defective Xbox 360 video game consoles.
417967
Microsoft Corp  posted a 7 percent gain in net profit as demand for its Office software and improved results from its online arm more than compensated for a $1.1 billion charge to repair Xbox video game consoles.
538937
Microsoft Corp  lifted its full-year estimates on Thursday after posting a 23 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by strong demand for "Halo 3" and computers running its operating system, sending its shares up 12 percent.
242716
Microsoft said yesterday that its fiscal first-quarter profit rose 23 percent on brisk sales of the new Halo 3 video game, Windows and Office.
34898
Microsoft Corp  signaled confidence to a rattled stock market by raising its full-year profit outlook above Wall Street targets and reporting a 79 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday.
729286
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 earnings per share (EPS) that beat analyst expectations.
639354
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft managed to earn a slight profit for its fiscal 2008 fourth quarter despite a billion-dollar-plus charge related to expenses the company incurred to fix faulty Xbox360 consoles. For the quarter that ended June 30, Microsoft reported net income of $3.04 billion compared to net income of $2.83 billion for the same period last year. Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.31, a number that took into account a previously announced charge related to extending warranties for its Xbox 360 console. Excluding that charge, EPS for the quarter was $0.39, in line with estimates from Thomson Financial analysts. Revenue for the quarter was up 13 percent at $13.37 billion, compared to revenue of $11.8 billion for the same period last year. In a statement, Microsoft attributed revenue growth to demand for its new client OS Windows Vista, as well as business products such as SQL Server and Windows Server. Microsoft's Visual Studio developer tools and Xbox360 consoles also did well in the quarter, the company said. Microsoft said earlier this month it would take an earnings charge of more than $1 billion for its fourth quarter related to expenses for expanding its warranty coverage to Xbox 360 customers who have a certain type of hardware failure, which required an "unacceptable" number of repairs to the consoles. Microsoft revenue also was up for the year and topped $50 billion for the first time. For the 2007 fiscal year ended June 30, revenue was $51.12 billion, a 15 percent increase over the prior year, when the company reported $44.28 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the year were $1.42, which includes $0.07 in charges for certain items. Excluding those charges, EPS for the year would have been $1.49, an increase of 17 percent over the prior year when the company also adjusted for certain items and reported EPS of $1.21. For the current quarter, which began July 1, Microsoft is expecting revenue in the range of $12.4 billion to $12.6 billion, with diluted EPS in the range of $0.38 to $0.40. For fiscal-year 2008, which will end June 30, 2008, revenue is expected to be in the range of $56.8 billion to $57.8 billion, and diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $1.69 to $1.73. However, Microsoft noted its guidance does not include the as-yet-undetermined impact of costs associated withÂ the company's acquisition of aQuantive, which is expected to close in the current quarter. Microsoft announced in May that it would purchase the digital advertising and marketing services agency.