Keystone-SDA
Microsoft published results much higher than expectations for the fourth quarter of its offbeat accounting exercise on Wednesday. An exercise marked by a new acceleration of remote computers (Cloud) and artificial intelligence (AI).
(Keystone-ATS) Net profit comes at $ 27.2 billion, up 24% over a year. Reported by Action, it reached $ 3.65, that is significantly better than the $ 3.38 projected by analysts, according to a consensus established by FactstSet.
Quarter after quarter, the group of Redmond (Washington State) delivers with a metronomic regularity of sparkling accounts, transcended by the rise of generative AI since the end of 2022.
For the first time in its history, the company co -founded by Bill Gates has crossed the symbolic threshold of $ 100 billion in net profit in accounting exercise (101.8).
While the market expects to see, one day or another, the pace of this insolent growth slow down, Microsoft even went up in diet during the period from April to June.
He thus recorded an increase of 27% of his cloud activities and 39% for his Azure distance computer platform, his best figures since the overhaul of the presentation of his results a year ago.
The Cloud and Azure exceed $ 100 billion in turnover over the tax year, more than Microsoft’s total income ten years ago.
The turnover of the fourth accounting quarter amounts to $ 76.4 billion, up 18% over a year.
The company does not intend to raise their foot and plans to invest “more than 30 billion dollars” in the first quarter of the fiscal 2026, which runs from July to September, said financial director, Amy Hood, at a conference call.
It is half more than for the same period of 2024.
This calibration was decided due to “strong demand signals” of group products, said the official, according to which even in this rate, the computer giant fails to follow the evolution of the needs of its customers.
Amy Hood nevertheless warned that investments would be less noted for the 2026 fiscal year than for the previous one.
“Microsoft continues to maintain a healthy balance between the growth of its activity and its investments for the future,” said Angelo Zino, CFRA analyst.
Microsoft’s publication was very well received by investors. In the exchanges after the closure of the New York Stock Exchange, the title, already close to its highest historic, earned almost 9%.
“Full card”
“It’s a full card this quarter for Microsoft,” said Wedbush Securities analysts in a note.
“But we believe that Microsoft barely enters the next IA monetization phase”, as “more and more companies are strengthening their budgets” devoted to the implementation of this technology, they added.
Microsoft’s managing director Satya Nadella revealed that IA Copilot assistant, integrated into the Windows operating system, now has more than 100 million monthly active users.
The Microsoft 365 software set “becomes a higher added value platform thanks to Copilot”, reacted Jeremy Goldman, analyst of the Emarketer firm.
He also praised the recovery of Xbox and associated services, whose turnover increased by 13% over a year, much better than in the previous two quarters (8% and 2%).
“It is not just a cloud service provider,” insisted Jeremy Goldman, “but a whole ecosystem which takes, without making noise ahead of the competition. »»
