Microsoft Earnings Surprisingly Better Than Expected
Well, what do you know. Microsoft’s fiscal third quarter earnings surpassed analyst expectations.
Posting financials after market close Thursday, the company reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of $5.11 billion, or 60 cents a share, on $17.41 billion in revenue.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on average, had expected the company to report revenue of $17.18 billion — up 4.6 percent from a year ago.
Driving the beat: The majority of Microsoft’s various divisions, which all posted revenue increases, save one. Strong Windows 7 adoption allowed the company’s Windows and Windows Live Division to post revenue of $4.62 billion, a 4 percent increase over the year prior. Its Server & Tools business posted $4.57 billion in third-quarter revenue, a 14 percent increase from the year prior. Revenues were up 9 percent at Microsoft’s Business Division which reported $5.81 billion in revenue. And they were up 6 percent at Online Services, which posted $707 million in revenue.
That leaves Entertainment & Devices, which was the big loser this quarter. It posted revenue of $1.62 billion, a decrease of 16 percent. Evidently, some of the shine is starting to come off the Kinect.
Microsoft is revising operating expense guidance downward and now offers a range of $28.3 billion to $28.7 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2012. Microsoft also offers preliminary fiscal year 2013 operating expense guidance of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion, representing 6 percent to 8 percent growth from the midpoint of fiscal year 2012 guidance.