Microsoft beats Street 3Q forecasts

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $4.8 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Redmond, Washington-based company said it had profit of 61 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 73 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 69 cents per share.

The software maker posted revenue of $22.09 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $23.56 billion, which also topped Street forecasts. Nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $23.55 billion.

Microsoft shares have increased nearly 10 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed nearly 7 percent. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $68.27, an increase of 34 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MSFT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MSFT

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Keywords: Microsoft, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings