According to The Guardian, Microsoft has exceeded Wall Street's revenue and profit expectations in its fiscal third quarter, with its cloud computing and Office software businesses driving growth. The tech giant's revenue for the quarter ended in March increased by 7% to $52.9bn, marginally above analysts' average estimate of $51.02bn. Its cloud unit, Azure, exceeded growth expectations, rising by 27%, compared to predictions of 26.6%. Microsoft's Bing search engine also benefited from artificial intelligence technology, with downloads increasing since AI features were added.
The company's upbeat forecast for the current quarter also lifted investor sentiment. Microsoft predicted that revenue in its intelligent cloud unit would slightly exceed Wall Street's expectations, forecasting $23.6bn to $23.9bn compared to analysts' average target of $23.8bn. In addition, revenue in the productivity and business processes unit, which includes Office, was expected to exceed analysts' average target of $17.8bn, with Microsoft forecasting $17.9bn to $18.2bn. The firm's overall performance was bolstered by its partnership with OpenAI and its use of AI-powered features in a range of products.
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