{"id":16310,"date":"2026-10-29T00:18:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/microsoft-stock-jumps-4-after-earnings-heres-what-pleased-investors\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T00:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T00:18:04","slug":"microsoft-stock-jumps-4-after-earnings-heres-what-pleased-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/29\/microsoft-stock-jumps-4-after-earnings-heres-what-pleased-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft stock jumps 4% after earnings: here’s what pleased investors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Microsoft shares MSFT rose in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and earnings, supported by accelerating growth in its Azure cloud-computing business.<\/p>\n

The stock jumped 4.3% to $554.25 in extended trading after closing roughly flat at $531.01. <\/p>\n

Microsoft reported revenue of $92.28 billion for its fiscal first quarter, up 18.8% from a year earlier and above analysts’ expectations of $90.62 billion<\/a>, according to FactSet.<\/p>\n

Earnings per share reached $4.92, compared with the $4.72 expected by analysts. <\/p>\n

The company reported net profit of $36.63 billion, up from $27.75 billion in the year-ago quarter.<\/p>\n

On an adjusted basis, Microsoft earned $4.89 per share, exceeding analysts’ forecast of $4.71.<\/p>\n

Azure growth exceeds expectations<\/h2>\n

Azure was a key driver of Microsoft’s quarterly performance, with growth accelerating to 48% in the September quarter. <\/p>\n

The result exceeded Microsoft’s own forecast of 44% to 45% growth and the roughly 47% rate that analysts identified as the expected figure among institutional investors.<\/p>\n

Microsoft disclosed Azure’s revenue in dollar terms for the first time in its latest earnings report. <\/p>\n

The business generated $33.16 billion during the quarter.<\/p>\n

Overall, Microsoft Cloud revenue increased 30% year over year to $63.9 billion.<\/p>\n

The company also introduced a new Agent and Infra reporting segment following a restructuring of its reporting structure in September. <\/p>\n

The segment, which includes Azure and Microsoft 365 products among other sources, generated $76.8 billion in revenue.<\/p>\n

The results helped ease concerns about whether Microsoft’s substantial investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure would translate into stronger financial returns.<\/p>\n

AI spending remains in focus<\/h2>\n

Investors continue to assess whether the hundreds of billions of dollars that major technology companies are committing to AI will generate sufficient returns.<\/p>\n

Microsoft lowered its calendar-year 2026 capital expenditure forecast to about $175 billion from roughly $190 billion last quarter. <\/p>\n

The company made the adjustment after extending the estimated useful life of its data centres and office buildings from 15 years to 25 years.<\/p>\n

The spending outlook remains important as technology companies expand computing capacity to support AI services. <\/p>\n

At the same time, data-centre construction has faced growing public and political opposition in parts of the United States.<\/p>\n

New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered a temporary ban on large data-centre construction in July, while Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order introducing restrictions on new projects earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Workforce changes add to broader industry pressures<\/h2>\n

Microsoft’s results come as large companies face pressure to reduce workforce costs while increasing investment in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

The company said on Monday that it was extending buyout offers to a section of its workforce<\/a>. Around 60,000 employees are eligible for the programme, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Microsoft employed 223,000 people at the end of June. <\/p>\n

In April, the company offered voluntary retirement buyouts to around 8,600 employees, with more than 30% accepting the offer. <\/p>\n

Microsoft expects a much lower acceptance rate for the latest programme.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Microsoft stock jumps 4% after earnings: here's what pleased investors<\/a> appeared first on Invezz<\/a><\/p>\n

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Microsoft shares MSFT rose in after-hours trading on Wednesday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and earnings, supported by accelerating growth in its Azure cloud-computing business. The stock jumped 4.3% to $554.25 in extended trading after closing roughly flat at $531.01. Microsoft reported revenue of $92.28 billion for its fiscal first quarter, up 18.8% <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-stocks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradinginsightsdaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}