Microsoft posts rise in profit, lifts outlook

55 Comments

Microsoft reported a rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, boosted by strong sales of its Windows operating system, and the company raised its full-year profit outlook, sending its shares up 4 percent,” Daisuke Wakabayashi reports for Reuters.

“Net profit in its fiscal second quarter rose to $4.7 billion, or 50 cents per diluted share, from $2.6 billion, or 26 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 30 percent to $16.37 billion,” Wakabayashi reports. “Analysts, on average, had forecast Microsoft to earn 46 cents per share on revenue of $15.94 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.”

“The second-quarter revenue and profit growth rates are exaggerated by results in the year-ago period when Microsoft deferred more than $1 billion in net income due to delays in releasing Windows Vista and Office 2007, which hit stores in early 2007,” Wakabayashi reports.

“For the fiscal year ending in June, Microsoft lifted its outlook. It now expects earnings per share to range between $1.85 and $1.88 per share, up from its previous estimate of $1.78 to $1.81,” Wakabayashi reports.

“Microsoft’s results and raised forecasts come on the heels of disappointing outlooks from technology bellwethers Intel Corp. and Apple Inc., which sent shivers through an already jittery stock market,” Wakabayashi reports.

“For the current quarter, Microsoft said earnings per share would range between 43 cents and 45 cents per share on revenue ranging from $14.3 billion to $14.6 billion,” Wakabayashi reports. “Wall Street analysts, on average, are predicting Microsoft will earn 44 cents a share in the March quarter on revenue of $14.4 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.”

“In after-hours trade, Microsoft shares rose to $34.60, after closing up 4 percent in regular Nasdaq trade at $33.25, ” Wakabayashi reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: 5:30pm EST: In After-hours trading, Apple (AAPL) is up $1.98, or 1.46% to $137.58.

55 Comments

  3. Apple make nice products, so do Microsoft. As a company Microsoft runs that much deeper and has an understanding of the whole market, not just the kids, so in economic times like these they are bound to come to the fore.

    Reply

  6. STEVE-O really dropped the ball on lowering Apple’s guidance for the quarter. The stock needed a hand and he let it flop. He really needed a boost after a lackluster Macworld. I just try to imagine what future iphones will look like after seeing the macbook Air….those suckers should really be slim :0)

    Reply

  11. LOL.. in other news water is wet. How can a company not profit when they have a government approve monopoly? OH wait, they must have a positive outlook/forecast with all the new updated super cool feature rich cutting edge Zunes and soon the Zphone. Yep the iPhone KILLER!

    Reply

  15. @Greybeard, so you think Microsoft make nice products do you? Mmm…..well then, it’s a shame your degree wasn’t from the same University of Life as S Jobs, it may have carried more weight!

    And by the way, since when did anyone with a Doctorate feel the need to announce it like that? Makes me wonder…

    On topic, we know Mickysoft is a cash machine, so no surprises there. For the last five years that has been entirely the result of an historical quirk and it’s vicious monopolistic actions in the previous decade. It has done little or nothing in this century to warrant the income it earns. In fact, if Vista were the measure, it ought rightly to be bust.

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  19. Funny how a week can completely change things for all you Mac Fanboys. Where are all those Appleheads bragging on their thousands of shares they bought at $160 (last chance to ever buy again below $160 is all we heard and how it would quickly shoot back to $200 after the earnings announcement!!!!!). How’s that Apple tasting now?

    Truth is Vista (and XP) ain’t that bad. I have had 2 Macs and probably 10 PCs over the past 20 years and have not had a Vista (or XP) computer lock-up or major problem in a couple of years. I run McAfee virus protection and firewall and keep all components updated. Right now I have an older Mac G4 that I use for music production since it has a PCI card that works with my ProTools hardware but may soon buy a new Macbook and add Windows to it via Parallels. Both systems stay on for weeks at a time and work great. My Mac sometimes freezes, not sure why and has to be hard booted but no biggie. I love both computers, the Mac and the Sony Vaio tower.

    If Windows was THAT bad Apple would have 50% market share quickly but the fact is Windows is no where near as bad as all you fanboys on here like to claim. And that is why MS is making money like a mint. Sure MacOS may be a bit easier than Vista for the novice user but I am very proficient at the PC and Windows and find no major faults with it, neither do the 90+% of the rest of the world that uses Windows so Microsoft is still winning the game, although I do acknowledge Apple has gained some share recently. Only time will tell if the growth will continue or stall at about 7%. From MS’s results it looks like it will be a very long time before they give up significant share and remember MS is much more global and entrenched in developing markets than Apple is.

    Needless to say Apple stock is out of favor right now and MS is in favor, quite ironic if you look back only a couple of months ago Apple was $200 and MS was $26, now MS has gained 35% and Apple has lost 35%.

    Bottom line is MS and Apple need each other, MS needs Apple to keep them from complete stagnation and AAPL need MS for the Office platform that may be the only way a person could justify buying a Mac for work, so they can share files.

    I used the turmoil to pick up a couple hundred shares of AAPL at $128 and my MS stock is up 35% as well. I LOVE TECHNOLOGY! Gonna go get me some GOOGLE too before they take the smart phone business away from the rest.

    And I feel sorry for MDN that had to try to look upbeat and positive today by claiming AAPL was up a couple of dollars or so in afterhours trading, after it fell $3.5 today AGAIN! Maybe MS’s positive results can save AAPL from going all the way to $100!!!!

    Reply

  22. Apple had good reason to lower expectations for the coming quarter, especially in the light of the current economic climate.

    I suspect that Microsoft’s rosy outlook will come back to bite them in the butt (and the butts of their investors) when they announce the results for their fiscal year in June.

    Reply

  25. @GmanMac

    Your analogy of beer to computer technology is especially lame and indicates perhaps you have consumed too many beers over your lifetime!

    Hey BUD’s P/E ratio is only 17, better go get me some of that since the industry average is 23.6! Thanks for the stock tip dude!

    Reply

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