Microsoft shares rebound on upbeat guidance

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) reported weaker-than-expected results for its Q4 on Tuesday as macro headwinds resulted in a bigger hit compared to what the management had anticipated when it downwardly revised guidance last month.

Shares still climbed over 5.0% on upbeat guidance.

Key takeaways from Microsoft Q4 earnings report

• Earned $16.74 billion versus the year-ago figure of $16.45 billion
• EPS of $2.23 was better than $2.17 in Q4 of the previous year
• Revenue went up 12% year-over-year to $51.87 billion
• Consensus was $2.29 of EPS on $52.38 billion in revenue
• Azure revenue up 40% fell shy of expectations for a 43% growth

At $20.91 billion, revenue from “Intelligent Cloud” jumped 26%, as per the earnings press release, but still came in short of the FactSet consensus.

Other notable figures and Adam Parker’s remarks

Other notable figures in Microsoft’s Q4 earnings report include a 2.0% annualised increase in “More Personal Computing” while “Productivity and Business Processes” climbed 13%.

Both figures, however, came in below the experts’ forecast. Discussing the earnings print on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime”, Crossmark Global’s Victoria Fernandez said:

Microsoft reiterates its full-year outlook

For the current financial quarter, Microsoft expects its revenue to fall between $49.25 billion to $50.25 billion. In comparison, analysts had called for a higher $51.49 billion. The implied gross margin of 69.85%, however, was better then the consensus of 69.30%.

The tech titan also reiterated its full-year guidance despite the more challenging macro environment.

Microsoft stock is now down 25% versus the start of 2022. Wall Street has a consensus “buy” rating on MSFT with upside to $338 or 35% increase from here.