Microsoft Reports Q3 Results (MSFT)

Software Giant, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced its fiscal third quarterly earnings that fell short of the market expectations. However, shares were trading higher, post trading-hours.

Company’s net income stood at $5.1 billion, or 60 cents per share, down from $5.2 billion, or 61 cents, for the same period, last year- a period when it posted a one-time tax gain.

Meanwhile, revenue soared to $17.4 billion, a 6-percent rise from $16.43 billion a year ago.

Post earnings’ announcement, company’s share gained 2%.

Microsoft’s 6% percent increase in sales was driven by strong demand for its server software products and Office application.

According to tech research firm Gartner, globally, sales of personal computers rose a modest 1.9 percent in the quarter. The company’s growth can be considered as better than expected seeing that market faced hard-drive shortages from Thailand even as Apple’s iPad gave strong competition. The U.S. consumer market, reeling under spending cuts, stays weak for the company though.

Commenting over Microsoft’s results, Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said to CNBC, “It looks good. Particularly good was the Windows business, which grew about 4 percent, more than PC industry growth;” In the last few quarters, Windows has been growing less than PCs overall,” he added.

The company’s report comes after when most tech stocks fell over the previous day. On Thursday, tech companies like IBM, Intel and Qualcomm all traded lower.

Notwithstanding, tech companies’ poor show in the stock-market, analysts believe that  sector is likely to remain a favorite for many investors due to expected growth, innovation potential and the group’s strong cash potential.

So far this year, Microsoft gained 20%, outpacing tech stocks dominated Nasdaq index- which advanced 16% for the same period, even as Standard’s & Poor’s 500 index gained 10%.

More Posts by this author

• 
  Gold Prices Rise Sharply as U.S. Economy Slows
• 
  Stocks End Higher; Nasdaq Posts Best Weekly Gain in Nearly Three Months
• 
  Stocks Extend Gains in Mid-Day Trading
• 
  Gold Prices Climb Above $1,660 as U.S. Q1 GDP Falls Short of Expectations; Silver Prices Also Edge Higher
• 
  Amazon Reports Q1 Results (AMZN)
• 
  Stocks Hold on to Modest Gains
• 
  Stocks Flat in Early Trading

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.