On Thursday, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) issued its third quarter earnings report.
Year to date, Microsoft shares are 10% up, behind its tech rivals, Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) that are 15% and 22% up, respectively, with the three locked in a battle to show who can offer the most comprehensive AI solutions.
This week, Microsoft got a pleasant boost from the beverage giant, The Coca Cola Company (NYSE: KO) who agreed to infuse Microsoft’s Azure cloud services and developing AI technology across its business and network.
Third quarter results surpassed estimates.
For the quarter ended on March 31st, revenue rose 17% YoY to $61.86 billion, surpassing LSEG’s estimate of $60.80 billion.
Net income amounted to $21.94 billion or $2.94 per share and also surpassed LSEG’s estimate of $2.82 per share.
Overall commercial cloud revenue came in at $35.1 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s guidance for $33.93 billion. Intelligent Cloud segment brought in $26.71 billion as sales rose about 21% with Microsoft’s Azure cloud alone growing 31%. AI services contributed 7 percentage points of growth to its Azure and other cloud services revenue, rising from second quarter’s 6 percentage points and first quarter’s 3 percentage points.
Capital expenditures jumped 79% to $14 ...