Microsoft (MSFT) reported its earnings for the company’s fiscal second quarter 2021 earnings today, Tuesday, January 26, after the close.
Revenue of $43.1 million easily beat Wall Street projections of $40.2 billion.
Earnings per share of $2.03 crushed expectations for $1.64 a share.
Microsoft’s shares were up 1.22% in the regular session and then gained another 4.30% in after-hours trading.
Revenue from the company’s personal computing unit (which includes Windows and the Xbox gaming console) was $15.12 billion versus an expected $13.55 billion. That was an increase of 14%.
Revenue from the company’s intelligent cloud unit was $14.68 billion versus $13.76 billion expected. That was an increase of 23%. Microsoft is currently the second largest cloud provider behind Amazon (AMZN). Microsoft also announced recently that it would invest $2 billion to become the preferred cloud provider for the General Motors/Honda-backed autonomous vehicle company Cruise.
Azure cloud computing service revenue grew by 50%. Analysts had forecast 41.4% revenue growth for Azure. Along with the beat on already high forecasted growth, the company also reported that commercial cloud gross margins–a measure of the profitability of its sales to large businesses–were 71% in the quarter versus 67% in the quarter a year ago.
Today’s beat from Microsoft is certain to raise expectations for earnings from Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB) that are due after the close of trading tomorrow.
