Microsoft on Thursday reported quarterly profit of $13.2 billion, powered in large part by a steadily growing cloud computing business that the company says now accounts for 30% of its total revenue.
The Redmond, Washington-based company said it had net income of $1.71 per share in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $1.37 per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.21 per share.
FILE - In this May 6, 2019, file photo Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers the keynote address at Build, the company's annual conference for software developers in Seattle. Microsoft Corp. reports earnings Thursday, July 18, 2019. (AP PhotoElaine Thompson, File)
The increase in net income was 49% but was affected by a one-time tax benefit from transferring some properties from foreign subsidiaries to the U.S. and Ireland. The software maker also surpassed forecasts by posting revenue of $33.7 billion in the period, a 12% increase over the same time last year. Eleven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $32.7 billion.
The company's fastest-growing segment was what it calls the "intelligent cloud," which includes server products and its Azure cloud computing platform. The segment's revenue was $11.4 billion, up 19% from a year ago.
CEO Satya Nadella said Thursday "it was a record fiscal year for Microsoft, a result of our deep partnerships with leading companies in every industry."
In its latest corporate deal, the company announced Wednesday that it's partnering with AT&T to migrate some of AT&T's "non-network infrastructure" onto Microsoft's cloud platform.
Microsoft shares have climbed 34% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 19%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $135.83, an increase of 29% in the last 12 months.
Parts of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MSFT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MSFT