Microsoft will report earnings for the quarter ended March 31 after the bell on Thursday. The company will hold a conference call with analysts at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Here’s what analysts are expecting for the quarter, which is Q3 of Microsoft’s 2018 fiscal year:
- Earnings: 85 cents per share as expected by analysts, excluding certain items, according to Thomson Reuters.
- Revenue: $25.77 billion as expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters.
In terms of guidance, analysts are expecting Microsoft to forecast $28.01 billion in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.
In the fiscal third quarter Microsoft acquired data storage company Avere and gaming start-up PlayFab, and it announced a major reorganization that included the departure of Windows and Devices chief Terry Myerson from the company. The Windows and Devices Group was effectively split up and put inside the Experiences and Devices group (which includes Microsoft’s Office 365 and other productivity applications) and the Cloud and Artificial Intelligence Platform group (which includes infrastructure products like Windows Server and the Azure cloud platform).
“We think folding Windows into the new Experiences and Devices division, which is led by a former Office executive, sends a strong signal of the supporting, and not leading, role Windows will likely take in coming years, and we like the continued emphasis on hybrid cloud and [artificial intelligence],” Stifel analysts led by Brad Reback wrote in a Sunday note.
But Windows remains the main revenue contributor for Microsoft’s More Personal Computing business segment. One indicator for Windows sales, IDC’s PC shipments, was flat year over year in the first quarter of 2018 but better than expected, the Stifel analysts wrote.
The biggest growth driver for Microsoft has been its Azure public cloud, which competes with Amazon Web Services and is part of Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud business segment. The Stifel analysts said they were expecting growth just over 90 percent, while analysts led by Kirk Materne at Evercore ISI said in a Sunday note they were looking for 82 percent Azure growth.
Microsoft stock is up 10 percent since the beginning of 2018.
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