Microsoft (MSFT, $239.63) beats fiscal Q2 earnings expectations; but disappoints on intelligent cloud revenue outlook

Microsoft posted its fiscal second quarter earnings late Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations. However, it forecast current quarter revenues for its intelligent cloud division which missed analysts’ expectations (according to Refinitiv survey).

The tech behemoth’s adjusted earnings slipped -6.5% from the year-ago quarter to $2.32 per share, topping the Street consensus forecast of $2.30 per share.

Revenues climbed +1.9% from the year-ago quarter to $52.7 billion, but were slightly below analysts' expectations of $52.97 billion.

Revenues for Azure, its flagship cloud segment, surged +31% year-over-year, exceeding the Street forecasts. However, the rate of growth slowed from earlier gains in the mid to high 40-percent range.

Productivity and business division sales (which includes Office 365) were up +7% to $17 billion. Intelligent Cloud revenues grew +18% to $21.5 billion. More Personal Computing revenues, which includes Windows, were down -19% to $14.2 billion.

The group projected current quarter revenues for its intelligent cloud division in the range of $21.7 billion to $22 billion, that’s below Refinitv forecasts.

Earlier, Microsoft announced plans to layoff around 5% of its global workforce as it seeks to align costs with customer demand and boost investment in areas such as AI and other advanced technologies. According to the company, severance payments and other costs linked to the job cuts were $800 million.