Should Microsoft Be Getting More Out of Q1?

Technology

Published: October 23, 2019 4:16 pm

Last Updated: January 30, 2020 2:12 pm

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) released fiscal first-quarter financial results after markets closed Wednesday. The firm said that it had $1.38 in earnings per share (EPS) and $33.1 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates that called for $1.24 in EPS and $32.23 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $1.14 in EPS and $29.1 billion in revenue.

Microsoft returned $7.9 billion to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020, an increase of 28% compared to the first quarter of fiscal year 2019.

In terms of its segments, the company reported:

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $11.1 billion and increased 13% (up 15% in constant currency).

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $10.8 billion and increased 27% (up 29% in constant currency).

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $11.1 billion and increased 4% (up 5% in constant currency).

The company did not offer any guidance in the report. However, there are consensus estimates calling for $1.27 in EPS and $36.02 billion in revenue for the fiscal second quarter.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, commented:

The world’s leading companies are choosing our cloud to build their digital capability. We are accelerating our innovation across the entire tech stack to deliver new value for customers and investing in large and growing markets with expansive opportunity.

Shares of Microsoft closed Wednesday at $137.24, with a 52-week range of $93.96 to $142.37. The consensus analyst price target is $157.39. Following the announcement, the stock was initially down less than 1% at $136.11 in the after-hours trading session.