No. of Recommendations: 2
Microsoft's year-over-year sales and earnings growth during the latest reported quarter (fiscal Q1 2024, which ended September 30, 2023) were:
Sales:
12.76% increase: Revenue for the quarter ending September 30, 2023 was $56.517 billion, a 12.76% increase from the same quarter in 2022.
24% growth in Microsoft Cloud: This segment, which includes Azure, Office 365, and other cloud services, saw even stronger growth at 24% year-over-year (23% in constant currency).
Earnings:
27% increase in diluted EPS: Microsoft's diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $2.99, a 27% increase from $2.35 in the same quarter of the previous year.
Microsoft also provided a forecast for its fiscal second quarter of 2024 (ending December 31, 2023):
Revenue:
$60.4 billion to $61.4 billion: This represents a range of 15% to 16% growth year-over-year.
So Microsoft said its YoY sales growth will accelerate from 12.8% last Q to 15% this Q. Analysts see the primary drivers of this growth being 1) continued momentum in Azure and 2) Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI-powered assistant within Office 365, which is seen as a game-changer for productivity software. Analysts believe its potential to boost user efficiency and create new revenue streams is substantial.
