Microsoft fiscal Q3 results top estimates as AI revolution spurs cloud growth

Investing.com - Microsoft reported Thursday fiscal third-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates, as strong demand for artificial intelligence underpinned better-than-expected performance in its cloud business Azure.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose more than 4% in afterhours trading following the report.

For the three months ended Mar. 31, the company announced earnings of $2.94 a share on revenue of $61.9B. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $2.82 on revenue of $60.84 billion.

Azure and other cloud services growth was 31% in Q3 from a year earlier, beating analyst estimates of 28.6%, with about 7% of the growth coming from artificial intelligence as tech giant continues to ramp-up AI related spending, widening the gap against its rivals.

"This leaves no doubt that the company is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone in the segments that matter to the market right now and, most importantly, is on the right path toward increasing this lead," Investing.com senior analyst Thomas Monteiro said Thursday.

"While several tech companies failed to keep on growing at the same pace as in the past quarters due to the widespread margin shrinkage both on the costs and revenue sides, Microsoft's AI and cloud growth numbers show that the company managed to sail through the quarter unphased," Monteiro said.

Revenue in more personal computing rose 17% to $15.6 billion in Q3 from a year earlier, further highlighting the company's diversification of revenue streams that should stand it in good stead against possible economic woes.

Microsoft's "multitude of high-yielding, globally scaled operations, leaves the tech giant "well-positioned against possible macroeconomic woes ahead in the year," Monteiro added.