Microsoft disclosed its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results on Tuesday after markets closed, surpassing both revenue and earnings expectations. However, the tech company missed the anticipated cloud revenue figures, leading to a decline in its stock value post-announcement.
In the fourth quarter, Microsoft reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.95 on revenue of $64.7 billion, outperforming Wall Street’s estimates of EPS of $2.94 and revenue of $64.5 billion as compiled by Bloomberg. Contrasting with the previous year’s EPS of $2.69 and revenue of $56.2 billion, Microsoft showcased notable growth.
The total cloud revenue for Microsoft reached $36.8 billion, aligning with the projected figure. Nevertheless, the Intelligent Cloud revenue, encompassing Azure services, fell slightly short at $28.5 billion compared to the expected $28.7 billion.
Following the financial report, Microsoft’s shares witnessed a 0.9% decline during regular trading hours but plummeted by more than 7% in the after-market session. Subsequently, the stock recouped some losses, closing down by 2.7%.
Despite the cloud revenue missing expectations, Microsoft’s overall revenue surged by 21% year over year, with Intelligent Cloud revenue experiencing a 19% increase over the same period.
Azure cloud computing services achieved a 29% year-over-year growth, just below the estimated 31%. Notably, 8 percentage points of this growth were attributed to AI, reflecting an increase from the previous quarter’s 7%.
