By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported on Tuesday first-quarter results that beat analysts' forecasts led by strength in its cloud business.
Microsoft shares gained more than 1% in after-hours trade following the report.
Microsoft announced earnings per share of $1.82 on revenue of $37.20 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com anticipated EPS of $1.54 on revenue of $35.76 billion.
Revenue in productivity and business processes was up 11% to $12.3 billion and its intelligent cloud business, which includes cloud business Azure.
The company said Azure grew 48% in the quarter, up from a growth rate of 47% in the second quarter year-on-year.
“Demand for our cloud offerings drove a strong start to the fiscal year with our commercial cloud revenue generating $15.2 billion, up 31% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft," the company said.
Revenue in personal computing was up 6% to $11.8 billion
"It’s likely that Microsoft stock could lose some of its steam if its latest earnings show some weakness. But the company is continuing to expand its market share into new areas of the digital economy while maintaining its leading position with legacy software products such as Windows and Office.This durable advantage will help the company achieve sustained, double-digit growth in revenue, earnings per share and free cash flow, making it a reliable tech stock to own over the long term," Investing.com analyst Haris Anwar said ahead of Microsoft's quarterly report.