Technology
Microsoft posts 6 percent rise in first-quarter earnings
By Seattle Business Magazine October 20, 2011
Microsoft reported earnings of $5.74 billion, or 68 cents a share, for the first quarter ending September 30. That’s 6 percent better than the earnings of $5.41 billion, or 61 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Revenue rose to $17.37 billion, an increase of 7.3 percent.
The company slightly outperformed the estimates of analysts, who expected revenues of $17.24 billion. Despite the positive report, shares dipped slightly to $26.86 in after-hours trading Thursday.
Business sales continued to fuel the companys growth. The Microsoft Business Division posted sales of $5.62 billion, an increase of 8 percent year over year. For the first time in a year, sales of Windows also increased, up 2 percent to $4.87 billion.
Microsofts online services posted revenue increases of 19 percent, as the Bing search engine continued to increase its market share. Entertainment sales were up 9.4 percent, spurred by strong Kinect and Xbox 360 demand.
In spite of the positive news, analysts remain concerned because of the continued weakness in PC sales and the companys late entry into the tablet and smartphone marketplaces. Microsofts mobile operating systems captured just 1.6 percent of the worldwide phone marketplace for the second quarter of 2011.