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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (39186)	4/19/2001 5:45:01 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Recession economy or a farce? Microsoft Profit, Revenue Top Expectations SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) on Thursday posted a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street estimates as the software giant was boosted by stronger sales of its Windows 2000 (news - web sites) software. Microsoft, maker of the Windows operating system, said that for its third fiscal quarter ended March 31 it made net profits of $2.45 billion, or 44 cents a share, compared with $2.39 billion, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. That came in above Wall Street analysts' expectations, which ranged from 40 cents to 43 cents a share, according to Wall Street tracking firm Thomson Financial/First Call. The consensus estimate was 42 cents a share. ``Despite difficult market conditions they are continuing to do pretty well,'' said Pacific Crest analyst Brendan Barnicle. ''The initial reaction is very encouraging, I think the stock will do well,'' Barnicle said. The Redmond, Wash.-based firm posted revenues of $6.46 billion, compared with $5.66 billion a year earlier. Analysts' estimates ranged from $5.9 billion to $6.35 billion, with a consensus number of $6.1 billion. ``Results were strong across all businesses and came in a little better than we expected,'' Microsoft Chief Financial Officer John Connors said in a statement. Microsoft said revenues in its desktop platforms business, which includes Windows, rose 16.3 percent to $2.05 billion while desktop applications, which includes its Office suite of productivity software, rose 6.6 percent to $2.41 billion. Sales of enterprise software, like the SQL database and Exchange e-mail server, rose 22 percent to $1.25 billion. Its consumer software, services and devices unit, which runs the MSN Internet access and portal offering, rose 21.7 percent to $460 million. Investment income fell 20 percent to $706 million as the company was hit by the steep stock market decline. Microsoft's huge stash of cash and short-term investments rose to $30 billion from $26.9 billion at the end of its second fiscal quarter. Shares in Microsoft rose $2.59, or nearly 4 percent, to $68.02 on Thursday, before the release of earnings. The stock has fallen about 20 percent in the last year, more than the S&P 500, which has slid about 17 percent, but holding up better than the technology-laden Nasdaq index, which has plummeted more than 45 percent.