On Tuesday, April 26, Microsoft (MSFT) reported net income of $16.73 billion or $2.22 share for the company’s fiscal third quarter. That was up from net income of $15.46 billion or $2.03 a share in the third quarter of fiscal 2021. Wall Street analysts had projected earnings of $2.19.
The company reported revenue of $49.36 billion in the third quarter, compared with $41.7 billion a year earlier. Wall Street was looking for revenue of $49.05 billion. For the fiscal year that starts on July 1 Microsoft forecast double-digit revenue growth.
The company’s shares closed up 4.81% on Wednesday, April 27, at $283.22. Microsoft is a member of my Jubak Picks Portfolio where it is up 179.25% from my initial buy on June 4, 2018. As of April 27 I’m raising my target price on Microsoft to $352 a share from the prior $155. The stock is also a member of my long-term %0 Stocks Portfolio where that position is down 6.83% since January 18, 2022.
Microsoft said revenues for Azure, its flagship cloud division, rose 46% from the third quarter of fiscal 2021. Microsoft forecast Intelligent Cloud revenue of $21.1 billion to $21.35 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter, driven by strong growth in Azure platform. Was Street had projected revenue of $20.933 for the group.
The solid news on cloud revenue was in contrast to news from Alphabet (GOOG) in its earnings report on Tuesday. Google parent Alphabet Inc on Tuesday reported that Google Cloud’s growth rate in the first quarter fell slightly to 43.8%, from 44.6% in the 2021 fourth quarter. Alphabet’s first-quarter revenue came in below expectations, and its shares were down 2% in after-hours trading and down 3.75% in the regular season on Wednesday.
