Microsoft earnings for the fiscal first quarter came in at $2.35 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $2.30 per share (based on Refinitiv poll).
Revenue of $50.12 billion also exceeded the $49.61 billion expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue from Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud business segment (which includes the Azure public cloud ) was $20.33 billion vs. the $20.36 billion expected by analysts polled by StreetAccount. Azure revenue growth was +35% y/y in the quarter (vs. StreetAccount analysts’ expectation of 36.9% ) , slower than + 40% growth registered in the prior quarter. Amy Hood, the company's finance chief, said on a conference call with analysts that higher energy costs in the quarter hurt the gross margin of Azure (as reported in CNBC).
The Productivity and Business Processes segment (containing Microsoft 365 productivity software subscriptions, LinkedIn and Dynamics) was up +9% y/y to $16.47 billion, vs. the $16.13 billion StreetAccount consensus.
For the fiscal second quarter, Microsoft expects total revenue in the range of $52.35 billion to $53.35 billion – which is below analysts’ forecast of $56.05 billion. Microsoft's implied operating margin for the fiscal second quarter was about 40%, vs. 42% expectation among analysts polled by StreetAccount.