Investing.com - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported a 21% increase in fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings that easily beat analysts' expectations on Thursday and a 12% gain in revenue.
Shares moved higher in response.
The software giant reported adjusted earnings of $1.37 a share on revenue of $33.72 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com had expected earnings $1.21 on revenue of $32.75 billion. That compared to earnings of $1.13 on revenue of $30.09 billion a year ago. The company had reported earnings of $1.14 on revenue of $30.57 billion in the fiscal-third quarter. GAAP earnings were $1.71 thanks to a tax benefit.
The earnings beat came despite slowing growth for its Azure cloud business, a key business driver. The company said the Azure business growth was 64% in the quarter, down from a growth rate of 73% in the fiscal-third quarter. Still, the Azure business is, by far, Microsoft's fastest growing business.
Its commercial cloud business rose 39% to $11 billion in the quarter, about a third of total revenue.
Company officials said in the conference call that the cloud business will continue to be strong in the first quarter and beyond. Microsoft expects revenue growth above 10% in fiscal 2020.
Microsoft shares gained 1.6% to trade at $138.50 in after-hours trade following the report. The shares had risen slightly during regular trading.
For the year, Microsoft said revenue rose 14% to $125.8 billion. Earnings rose to an adjusted $4.75 a share from $3.88 a year ago.
For the quarter, Microsoft's three business segments -- Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing -- saw revenue and operating profit gain for the quarter and the fiscal year.
More Personal Computing was the weakest link, with quarterly revenue up just 4% and 8% for the year, held back by weakest in its gaming business. Xbox and software and device sales fell 3%.
But revenue from its Surface family of notebook computers and tablets rose 14%.
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