Tuesday saw Microsoft delivering a positive fiscal second-quarter earnings report. This showed that the tech giant’s cloud computing business did better than expected and the company had enjoyed a healthy $18.8 billion profit. Plus with a sales forecast being issued that exceeded initial estimates, it’s looking like another great year for Microsoft.
The focal point of the earnings report was the fact that its cloud services revenue jumped by a startling 46%. This has largely been attributed to the fact that growing numbers of businesses and individuals took their operations online as a result of the pandemic. Importantly, Microsoft bosses expect such trends to continue and its Intelligent Cloud section is going to be pivotal to the tech company’s ambitions.
Beyond this, there were also positive figures from areas such as Windows, gaming, devices and gaming. This is a result of a 25% increase in the sales of Windows licenses as well as resurgence in the sales of games hardware such as the Xbox Series X. Such positive moves have helped Microsoft enjoy a 20% increase in revenues compared to the same period last year.
All of this is good news for a brand that has seen its stock price take a slide over the past few weeks. While Microsoft stocks were trading by as much as $343.11 in mid-November, they had sunk to just $291.52 before the earnings report was issued. Although the earnings report caused a slight bump in stock price, the share value is still in the doldrums ahead of this week’s hugely important meeting at the Federal Reserve. Despite the gloomy current stock figures, it’s worth noting that Microsoft stock is up nearly 30% over the last 12 months which is over double that of the S&P 500.
Promising signs for Microsoft
Not only did Microsoft enjoy a successful 2021, but the tech giant has started 2022 with a bang. This can be seen in the fact that Microsoft announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The purchase of one of the world’s leading games publishers will be one of the largest tech deals in history and marks an important step in Microsoft’s initial ventures into the metaverse. The properties earned from the Activision Blizzard deal will also help Microsoft ramp up its Game Pass gaming service.
Microsoft was the first of the big tech brands to release its quarterly reports, and investors will be keen to see how Apple, Amazon, Meta and Alphabet have fared over the past few months. Above all, it seems that Microsoft is weathering the storm that is hitting technology stocks hard.
With Netflix stock freefalling after disappointing subscriber figures, such stocks are being seen as increasingly risky amid the prospect of several interest rate hikes in 2022. While Microsoft stock might be flatlining, there’s enough promise for the tech giant to ride the storm.
