Microsoft 3Q Revenue Jumps 18%; CFO to Leave Company
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported earnings growth of 19% in the third quarter amid higher sales in its Windows division, beating Wall Street expectations.
The software giant also announced Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein is set to leave the company at the end of the fiscal year. Microsoft will name a new CFO from its finance leadership team in the next several weeks.
For the period ended March 31, the company posted a $6.06 billion profit, or 72 cents a share, up from $5.11 billion, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.
The third quarter included a net revenue recognition of $1.67 billion for Microsoft’s Windows upgrade offer, video game deferral, and upgrade offer and pre-sales for Office. Adjusted per-share earnings to exclude those items and a fine from the European Commission checked in at 65 cents.
Revenue climbed 18% to $20.49 billion, while adjusted revenue was $18.83 billion.
Analysts were looking for per-share earnings of 68 cents on revenue of $20.5 billion.
“Our diverse business continues to deliver solid financial results, even as we navigate the evolving device market,” Klein said. “Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in long-term growth opportunities to drive our devices and services strategy forward and deliver ongoing value to shareholders.”
The latest financial results come a week after research firm IDC said PC sales fell 14% in the first three months of the year, the sharpest decline since it began tracking the data in 1994.
However, Microsoft’s Windows division posted a 23% jump in revenue to $5.7 billion in the period, during which the company launched its Surface Pro tablet.
“While there is still work to do, we are optimistic that the bets we’ve made on Windows devices position us well for the long-term,” CEO Steve Ballmer said, citing the success of cloud services such as Xbox Live, Skype and Office 365.
Revenue for the company’s servers and tools products was up 11% year-over-year.
The business division, which includes sales from the company’s Microsoft Office software, reported sales growth of 8.2%.
Microsoft also revised its full-year operating expense outlook down to between $30.2 billion and $30.5 billion.
Shares of Microsoft were up 2.12% at $29.40 in after-hours trading Thursday.