MS Cloud Business Performance Below Expectations... Stock Price Drops in After-Hours Trading

[Photo by Reuters-Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Microsoft (MS) announced better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, but its key cloud business segment fell short of expectations, according to the U.S. financial media CNBC on the 25th (local time).

After the New York Stock Exchange closed that day, Microsoft reported third-quarter earnings per share of $2.35, surpassing analysts' estimates of $2.30 surveyed by Refinitiv. Total net income was $17.56 billion, down 14% compared to the same period last year.

Third-quarter revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $50.12 billion. Revenue also exceeded analysts' estimates of $49.61 billion surveyed by Refinitiv.

However, the core business segment, the cloud business, did not meet expectations.

Microsoft stated that the revenue growth rate of Azure, its cloud computing service, was 35%, slowing down from 40% in the second quarter. This fell short of Wall Street analysts' expected growth rate of around 36%.

Total revenue for the cloud business segment, including Azure, increased 20% year-over-year to $20.33 billion. This also slightly missed analysts' estimates of $20.36 billion compiled by StreetAccount.

Microsoft's stock price rose 1.38% during regular trading hours that day but showed weakness in after-hours trading following the close. As of 5:27 p.m. local time, it was down 2.43% from the regular session closing price.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.