Microsoft Corp said its quarterly profit beat analysts' view, propelled by mounting demand for its cloud products. The company earned net profit of $5 billion for the second quarter ended December 31, 2015, down from $5.86 billion in the corresponding period last year. Earnings per share declined to $0.62 from $0.71 in the previous year period.
On an adjusted basis, the quarterly net income amounted to $6.3 billion, up from $5.8 billion in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings per share totalled $0.78 for the three-month period, an increase from $0.70 over the last year period.
Microsoft posted quarterly operating income of $6.03 billion on a reported basis, down from $7.8 billion in the prior year period. However, quarterly adjusted operating income increased to $7.92 billion from $7.69 billion last year.
The software leader reported that GAAP revenue for the second quarter dropped to $23.8 billion from $26.5 billion reported in the previous year quarter. Adjusted revenue amounted to $25.7 billion for the second quarter 2015, down from $26.14 billion in the same period in 2014.
Revenue from Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud business rose 5% to $6.3 billion, while the revenue from Business Processes and Productivity fell 2% to $6.7 billion. The Cloud unit includes services and server products like Azure, Windows Server, System Center and SQL Server.
Revenue from More Personal Computing dropped 5% to $12.7 billion. The segment includes Xbox gaming, PC and phone hardware, Windows software, and Bing search.
The Washington-based Microsoft said that it returned $6.5 billion to its stockholders as dividends and share repurchases. Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella said that businesses worldwide are utilizing its Cloud products as digital platform to achieve their transformation programs.
Revenue from the business that comprises Windows declined 5% to $12.66 billion. Windows revenue closely monitors sales of personal computers, which dropped 10.6% worldwide in the December quarter from last year, Reuters said quoting research firm IDC
Analysts on middling had anticipated a profit of 71 cents per share and revenue of $25.26 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Investor's Business Daily quoted Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, as saying, "Microsoft beat the Street across the board. We would characterize this as another solid quarter in a choppy IT spending environment. The cloud strength seen this quarter yet again will give the bulls something to hang their hats on."
The company said that it produced revenue of $1.35 billion from Microsoft Surface tablets alone in the previous quarter, mainly due to the fresh Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 laptops. Microsoft's Cloud business performed well and lead the company to beat analysts' view.
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