Microsoft beats expectations with Q1 earnings | Business news

Microsoft beat economists’ expectations by reporting first-quarter revenue of $50.12bn (£43.66bn).

That figure compares with $45.32 billion a year earlier and analysts’ forecasts of $49.61 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Products like Outlook and Teams have made the company important to businesses that continue to embrace flexible working models despite a broader hit to corporate spending.

Net income fell to $17.56 billion, or $2.35 a share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $20.51 billion, or $2.71
per share, a year earlier.

However, the news was more somber for Alphabet, which owns Google, as it missed quarterly revenue estimates.

Alphabet has been hit by falling revenue from advertisers who are cutting costs.

The company said total revenue was $69.09 billion in the quarter to Sept. 30, compared with $65.12 billion a year earlier.
earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $70.58 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

Net income fell to $13.91 billion, or $1.06 per share, from $18.94 billion, or $1.40 per share, a year earlier.

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Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The slowdown in advertising revenue was not a surprise, but the speed of the slowdown was unwelcome and the market remains very sensitive to changing tides.

“A weak economic outlook will always inhibit a company’s ability to pay for marketing. Many tech companies rely on ad revenue, and the changing economic temperature sent Snap shares tumbling earlier this month.

“The reason Alphabet doesn’t follow suit to the same extent is because it’s absolutely necessary. Demand may ebb and flow, but it will never stop completely, and that’s reflected in the pretty great stock price performance over the past month.

“Google is not a trend that can disappear, it is a fundamental daily activity for a large part of the world’s population.

“Essentially, the only real long-term risk to Alphabet’s investment case is a heightened antitrust situation.

“Further political and legal control will take place. This is a case of not.

“Immensely deep pockets mean Alphabet can handle such lapses on the financial front, but the bigger question is whether the patience of today’s more ethically minded investors will run out.”