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Microsoft beats earnings estimates, driven by cloud growth

Alex Halverson, The Seattle Times on

Published in Business News

Microsoft smashed Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, with all eyes on the balance between the company’s artificial intelligence spending and revenue growth.

The Redmond-based tech giant reported $92.3 billion in revenue, a 19% year-over-year increase, for the first quarter of its 2027 fiscal year, which ran from July through September, beating analysts’ consensus. Microsoft reported $36.6 billion in profit for the quarter.

Though Microsoft routinely exceeds expectations on quarterly revenue and profit, those figures are not enough to keep investors satisfied amid the AI boom and as Microsoft’s spending — specifically its capital expenditures toward AI infrastructure — increases each quarter.

Watchful eyes are also looking for more evidence a return on investment is coming for the company’s Azure cloud-computing platform.

 

After years of cloudy reporting around its Azure business, Microsoft finally began disclosing the division’s annual revenue at the end of the 2025 fiscal year, which was $75 billion. That jumped to more than $100 billion during the most recent fiscal year, which ended on June 30.

The company is now reporting quarterly revenue growth for the Azure division. For the most recent quarter, Microsoft reported $33 billion, reflecting 48% in year-over-year growth.

Microsoft’s stock soared by as much as 5% in extended trading.


©2026 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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