Software giant Microsoft smashed analysts expectations for its June quarter earnings report Thursday after the close. Cloud offerings Azure infrastructure services, Office 365 productivity software and Dynamics enterprise software all were ahead of forecasts.
Software giant Microsoft smashed analysts expectations for its June quarter earnings report Thursday after the close. Cloud offerings Azure infrastructure services, Office 365 productivity software and Dynamics enterprise software all were ahead of forecasts.
Microsoft is the clear No. 2 provider of on-demand computing processing and storage behind market pioneer Amazon.com.
Earnings
Microsoft earned an adjusted $1.13 a share on sales of $30.1 billion in the June quarter. The results were ahead of analysts forecasts of $1.08 a share on sales of $29.21 billion. The results showed year-over-year growth of 7% in earnings per share and 17% in revenue.
Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ: $MSFT
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Microsoft June Quarter Segment Breakdown
Intelligent Cloud Success
Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform growth has slowed down over the last few quarters but annually it’s still showing just under 90 percent annual growth. Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenue rose 53% year over year to $6.9 billion in the June quarter. Of its three business units, Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment was the fastest growing, with revenue up 23% to $9.6 billion. The segment includes server products and Azure cloud services.
- Revenue increased $1.8 billion or 23%, including a favorable foreign currency impact of 3%.
- Server products and cloud services revenue increased $1.7 billion or 26%, driven by Azure and server products licensed on-premises revenue growth.
- Azure revenue increased 89%, due to growth from consumed and SaaS revenue.
- Server products licensed on-premises revenue increased 8%, mainly due to a higher mix of premium licenses for SQL Server and Windows Server.
- Enterprise Services revenue increased $118 million or 8%, driven by higher revenue from Premier Support Services and Microsoft Consulting Services, offset in part by a decline in revenue from custom support agreements.
- Operating income increased $990 million or 34%, including a favorable foreign currency impact of 4%.
- Gross margin increased $1.3 billion or 23%, driven by growth in server products and cloud services revenue and cloud services scale and efficiencies.
- Gross margin percentage was relatively unchanged, primarily due to gross margin percentage improvement in Azure, offset in part by an increased mix of cloud offerings. Gross margin included a favorable foreign currency impact of 3%.
- Operating expenses increased $292 million or 11%, driven by investments in cloud engineering and commercial sales capacity.
“Our early investments in the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge are paying off, and we will continue to expand our reach in large and growing markets with differentiated innovation,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said
More Personal Computing
The company’s More Personal Computing unit saw revenue increase 17% to $10.8 billion. The segment includes Windows software, Surface computers, Xbox video game hardware and software, and internet search advertising.
- Windows OEM revenue increased 7% (up 7% in constant currency) driven by OEM Pro revenue growth of 14%
- Windows commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 23% (up 19% in constant currency) driven by an increased volume of multi-year agreements and the mix of products that carry higher in-quarter revenue recognition
- Gaming revenue increased 39% (up 38% in constant currency) with Xbox software and services revenue growth of 36% (up 35% in constant currency) mainly from third party title strength
- Surface revenue increased 25% (up 21% in constant currency) driven by strong performance of the latest editions of Surface against a low prior year comparable
- Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 17% (up 16% in constant currency) driven by higher revenue per search and search volume
Productivity and Business Processes
Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes unit posted revenue of $9.7 billion, up 13%. The unit includes commercial and consumer Office software, as well as LinkedIn and Dynamics.
- Office commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 10% (up 8% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 38% (up 35% in constant currency)
- Office consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 8% (up 6% in constant currency) and Office 365 consumer subscribers increased to 31.4 million
- LinkedIn revenue increased 37% (up 34% in constant currency) with continued acceleration in engagement highlighted by LinkedIn sessions growth of 41%
- Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 11% (up 8% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 61% (up 56% in constant currency)
Guidance
Microsoft did not give guidance for the September quarter, its fiscal Q1, in its earnings press release.
Source: MSFT Earnings Release, AlphaStreet
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