Microsoft Q3 Revenue Up 17%

Microsoft Corporation recently reported its fiscal third-quarter results, surpassing Wall Street's expectations. The company's revenue rose by 17% to $61.9 billion, exceeding the predicted $60.80 billion. The earnings per share (EPS) also increased to $2.94, outperforming the anticipated $2.82. This is the fifth consecutive quarter that Microsoft has exceeded analyst estimates.

The company's financial performance was primarily driven by the adoption of AI across its cloud services. The Intelligent Cloud segment's sales saw a 21% annual increase to $26.71 billion. This was largely due to a significant 31% surge in the cloud-computing platform Azure and other cloud services. The overall cloud revenue advanced 23% to $35.1 billion, indicating a strong performance in the cloud business.

Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, emphasized the AI transformation driven by Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack. These are orchestrating improved business outcomes across every role and industry. The company recently launched Phi-3 Mini, a lightweight AI model with 3.8 billion parameters, further emphasizing its focus on AI.

The company's net income rose 20% to $21.9 billion. The Q3 net income also increased to $2.94 per diluted share compared with $2.45 a year earlier. The company did not provide an outlook in its earnings release, but it will provide forward guidance on its conference call.

Microsoft's shares experienced selling pressure ahead of earnings but rose 5% in after-hours trading following the announcement of the results. The company is scheduled to host a conference call at 2:30 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss the results further.