Microsoft plows ahead in cloud business growth

Microsoft plows ahead in cloud business growth

SeattlePI.com

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Microsoft on Wednesday reported another solid quarterly report card to Wall Street, as it plows ahead in selling its cloud computing services to big businesses and the government.

The company reported fiscal first-quarter profit of $11.6 billion, up 36% from the same period last year.

Net income of $1.51 per share beat Wall Street expectations.

The software maker posted revenue of $36.9 billion in the October-December period, up 14% from last year and also beating forecasts.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Microsoft to earn $1.32 per share on revenue of $35.7 billion for the October-December quarter. They are predicting a forecast of $1.24 in earnings per share on revenue of $34.1 billion for the January-March quarter.

Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini said in a note to investors Wednesday that Microsoft's Azure cloud computing business has been growing faster than the broader cloud market. Azure’s quarterly revenue grew 62% percent from the same time last year.

Bellini said the company's Office 365 workplace software products also remain “front and center” as businesses look to transform their digital operations.

She said price increases that began in October 2018 are continuing to drive revenue, as are Microsoft's moves to phase out older products such as Windows 7, which came out in 2009. Microsoft stopped providing free security updates for the legacy operating system earlier this month, forcing users to upgrade to Windows 10 if they don't want to be vulnerable to malware and hacking.

Microsoft's efforts to catch up to No. 1 cloud provider Amazon got a big boost in October when the U.S. Department of Defense awarded Microsoft a $10 billion contract to supply the U.S. military with cloud services for the next decade.

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