It’s Microsoft Earnings Day. All Eyes Are on AI and Cloud.
Published: July 25, 2023 at 2:00 a.m. ET
By Eric J. Savitz
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The Street forecasts that Microsoft will post earnings of $2.55 a share for the June quarter. Pau Barrena/AFP via Getty Images
Microsoft will report June quarter earnings after the close of trading on Tuesday, with investors zeroed in on the outlook for the company’s Azure cloud computing arm and its rapidly expanding work on artificial intelligence.
Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) shares have rallied 44% so far this year, recently setting a record high. With a market cap above $2.5 trillion, the software giant is worth more than any other company aside from Apple ; It has a $1 trillion lead on third-place Alphabet. The latest surge reflects investor enthusiasm for the company’s aggressive push into generative AI, including a new version of its Bing search engine and AI “copilot” tools for many of its applications, including the Microsoft 365 application suite.
The market’s response to the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results also will depend in no small measure on the growth—and outlook—for the company’s Azure cloud computing unit. Growth in the unit has been gradually decelerating, from 51% in the June 2021 quarter, to 27% in the March quarter (or 31% adjusted for currency exchange rates.) For the June quarter, consensus estimates call for 25% growth, or 26.5% adjusted for currency.
Overall, the Street sees June quarter sales of $55.5 billion, up 7%, with profits of $2.55 a share, up from $2.23 a share a year ago. |
