Microsoft Q1 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Software giant Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Thursday reported an increase in profit for the first-quarter that trumped analysts' estimates, driven largely by strong growth in cloud business, as the software giant continues bank on its rapidly growing cloud business.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft reported first-quarter profit of $6.58 billion or $0.84 per share, up from last year's profit of $5.67 billion or $0.72 per share.

On average, 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.72 per share for the quarter.

Revenues for the quarter rose to $24.54 billion from $21.93 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $23.56 billion for the quarter.

Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes its Azure on-demand computing services, revenues increased 14 percent to $6.9 billion, with Azure revenues surging 90 percent.

"This quarter we exceeded $20 billion in commercial cloud ARR, outpacing the goal we set just over two years ago," said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "Our results reflect accelerating innovation and increased usage and engagement across our businesses as customers continue to choose Microsoft to help them transform."

Under Satya Nadella, Microsoft has been transforming itself and focusing more on cloud-based services as PC shipments continue to drop.

Revenues in productivity and business processes climbed 28 percent to $8.2 billion. Revenues in More Personal Computing segment, which includes Windows operating system, was relatively unchanged at $9.4 billion.

MSFT closed Thursday's trading at $78.76, up $0.13 or 0.17%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $2.91 or 3.69% in the after-hours trade.