On stronger-than-expected earnings, the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) market cap reached $2.96 trillion. A small jump in price after the blowout numbers will get it over the $3 trillion mark.
According to Yahoo Finance, “Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday, driven by gains from adoption of artificial intelligence across its cloud services.”
Revenue for the quarter jumped 19% to $61.9 billion, and net income rose 20% to $21.9 billion. Management justified the company’s aggressive move into artificial intelligence. CEO Satya Nadella said, “Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry.”
Cloud computing continues to be the primary driver of Microsoft’s success. Most studies show it is just behind Amazon Web Services in market share. Cloud revenue for the quarter rose 23% to $35.1 billion. It has taken years to develop this business. AWS started in 2002, and Azure, Microsoft’s primary cloud offering, launched in 2010.
Microsoft still has two things to prove. The first is to justify its $13 billion investment in OpenAI. The other is to stand out, as every major tech company in the world offers AI products of their own. Its stock price will probably be based on these two things as much as earnings.
Also check out Microsoft Stock Price Prediction in 2030: Bull, Base & Bear Forecasts.
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