Microsoft Tops Forecasts on Strong Cloud Results

Microsoft has announced its quarterly results, topping forecasts on strong Azure performance.

Microsoft has been firing on all cylinders, recently becoming just the second company to cross the $2 trillion valuation mark. Multiple analysts have raised the company’s stock target, citing its cloud business, which benefits from the Microsoft’s strong legacy business.

The latest quarterly results bear out that optimism, with the company reporting $46.2 billion in revenue, an increase of 21%. Significantly, the company’s Intelligent Cloud revenue came in at $17.4 billion, up 30%. Azure growth, in particular, was a whopping 51%. Overall net income for the quarter was $16.5 billion, an increase of 47%.

The company’s revenue for Fiscal Year 2021 was $168.1 billion, up 18%. Net income was $61.3 billion GAAP, an increase of 38%.

“We are innovating across the technology stack to help organizations drive new levels of tech intensity across their business,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Our results show that when we execute well and meet customers’ needs in differentiated ways in large and growing markets, we generate growth, as we’ve seen in our commercial cloud – and in new franchises we’ve built, including gaming, security, and LinkedIn, all of which surpassed $10 billion in annual revenue over the past three years.”

“As we closed out the fiscal year, our sales teams and partners delivered a strong quarter with over 20% top and bottom-line growth, highlighted by commercial bookings growth of 30% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “Our commercial cloud revenue grew 36% year over year to $19.5 billion.”