Microsoft beats revenue estimates on cloud strength By Reuters

2/2© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Smartphone is seen in front of Microsoft logo displayed in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration2/2

By Jane Lanhee Lee and Tiyashi Datta

(Reuters) -Microsoft Corp beat Wall Street profit and revenue expectations on Tuesday, benefiting from demand for the software giant's cloud-based services from the pandemic-triggered shift to hybrid work models.

Shares were up less than 1% in after-hours trade.

Individuals and organizations turned to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)'s diverse products, such as Outlook and Teams workplace messaging app, to communicate during the switch to working and learning from home, making the company a pandemic winner.

Now as economies reopen, businesses are increasingly shifting to a hybrid model of allowing staff to alternatively work from office and home. This is resulting in a continued strength for Microsoft's cloud services, including its flagship cloud offering Azure.

Third-quarter Azure annual growth of 46.0% was steady from the previous quarter and in line with estimates of 45.6% growth compiled by Visible Alpha. Still, Azure growth has showed a steady drop from fiscal 2020 when growth was in the 60% range.

The company reported revenue of $49.36 billion in the third quarter, compared with $41.7 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of $49.05 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Net income rose to $16.73 billion, or $2.22 per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $15.46 billion, or $2.03 per share, a year earlier. That topped analyst targets of $2.19.

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