Microsoft Cloud Strength Drives Third Quarter Results

Microsoft Corp. announced the following results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

  • Revenue was $30.6 billion and increased 14%
  • Operating income was $10.3 billion and increased 25%
  • Net income was $8.8 billion and increased 19%
  • Diluted earnings per share was $1.14 and increased 20%

“Leading organizations of every size in every industry trust the Microsoft cloud. We are accelerating our innovation across the cloud and edge so our customers can build the digital capability increasingly required to compete and grow,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

 Microsoft returned $7.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019.

“Demand for our cloud offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to $9.6 billion this quarter, up 41% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “We continue to drive growth in revenue and operating income with consistent execution from our sales teams and partners and targeted strategic investments.”

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $10.2 billion and increased 14% (up 15% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

  • Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 12% (up 14% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 30% (up 31% in constant currency)
  • Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 8% (up 10% in constant currency) and Office 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 34.2 million
  • LinkedIn revenue increased 27% (up 29% in constant currency) with record levels of engagement highlighted by LinkedIn sessions growth of 24%
  • Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 15% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 43% (up 44% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $9.7 billion and increased 22% (up 24% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

  • Server products and cloud services revenue increased 27% (up 29% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 73% (up 75% in constant currency)
  • Enterprise Services revenue increased 4% (up 5% in constant currency)

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $10.7 billion and increased 8% (up 9% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

  • Windows OEM revenue increased 9% (up 9% in constant currency)
  • Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 18% (up 20% in constant currency)
  • Surface revenue increased 21% (up 25% in constant currency)
  • Gaming revenue increased 5% (up 7% in constant currency) driven by Xbox software and services revenue growth of 12% (up 15% in constant currency)
  • Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 12% (up 14% in constant currency)

Business Outlook

Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

Quarterly Highlights, Product Releases, and Enhancements 

Every quarter Microsoft delivers hundreds of products, either as new releases, services, or enhancements to current products and services. These releases are a result of significant research and development investments, made over multiple years, designed to help customers be more productive and secure and to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge.

Here are the major product releases and other highlights for the quarter, organized by product categories, to help illustrate how we are accelerating innovation across our businesses while expanding our market opportunities.

Constant Currency

Microsoft presents constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars using the average exchange rates from the comparative period rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year. Microsoft has provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding our performance. The non-GAAP financial measures presented in this release should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Financial Performance Constant Currency Reconciliation

  Three Months Ended March 31,
 ($ in millions, except per share amounts) Revenue Operating Income Net Income Diluted Earnings per Share
2018 As Reported $26,819 $8,292 $7,424 $0.95
2019 As Reported $30,571 $10,341 $8,809 $1.14
Percentage Change Y/Y 14% 25% 19% 20%
Constant Currency Impact $(420) $(208) $(126) $(0.02)
Percentage Change Y/Y Constant Currency 16% 27% 20% 22%

 

Segment Revenue Constant Currency Reconciliation

  Three Months Ended March 31,
 ($ in millions) Productivity and Business Processes Intelligent Cloud More Personal Computing
2018 As Reported $9,006 $7,896 $9,917
2019 As Reported $10,242 $9,649 $10,680
Percentage Change Y/Y 14% 22% 8%
Constant Currency Impact $(133) $(144) $(143)
Percentage Change Y/Y Constant Currency 15% 24% 9%

 

Selected Product and Service Revenue Constant Currency Reconciliation           

  Three Months Ended March 31, 2019
Percentage Change Y/Y (GAAP) Constant Currency Impact Percentage Change Y/Y Constant Currency
Office Commercial products and cloud services 12% 2% 14%
Office 365 Commercial 30% 1% 31%
Office Consumer products and cloud services 8% 2% 10%
LinkedIn 27% 2% 29%
Dynamics products and cloud services 13% 2% 15%
Dynamics 365 43% 1% 44%
Server products and cloud services 27% 2% 29%
Azure 73% 2% 75%
Enterprise Services 4% 1% 5%
Windows OEM 9% 0% 9%
Windows Commercial products and cloud services 18% 2% 20%
Search advertising excluding traffic acquisition costs 12% 2% 14%
Surface 21% 4% 25%
Gaming 5% 2% 7%
Xbox software and services 12% 3% 15%

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

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