Microsoft's Stock Drops After Adjusted Profit Beats, But Commercial Revenue Misses

Microsoft Corp.'s stock dropped 3.5% in after-hours trade Tuesday, after the technology giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit, excluding a massive one-time charge, and sales that beat expectations, but commercial revenue that came up a bit short. For the quarter ended June 30, the technology giant swung to a net loss $3.2 billion, or 40 cents a share, from earnings of $4.61 billion, or 55 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as a $7.5 billion charge related to the writedown of the handset business it acquired from Nokia less than two years ago, adjusted earnings per share came in at 62 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 58 cents. Revenue declined to $22.18 billion from $23.28 billion, but topped the Factset consensus of $22.05. Meanwhile, closely-watched commercial revenue increased slightly to $13.5 billion, just below expectations of $13.63 billion. Commercial cloud revenue grew 88%. The stock has run up 11% over the past three months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 0.2%.