Microsoft Shares Jump on Strong Cloud Revenues and Record Azure Sales

Microsoft's (MSFT) stock jumped 3% after-hours on Wednesday following its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings release, which exceeded expectations. The company reported a 43% increase in Azure cloud-computing revenue, beating analyst projections of around 40%. This growth was accompanied by an 18% year-over-year rise in total revenue to $90 billion, surpassing the estimated forecast of $81.43 billion.

The strong performance in cloud revenues was a significant contributor to Microsoft's overall success. The company's Azure sales increased to $59.3 billion, representing a 27% growth. Furthermore, the Productivity and Business Processes division saw a 14.3% increase in revenue, driven by the addition of over 10 million paid seats for its Microsoft 365 Copilot work assistant.

However, not all segments showed improvement. The More Personal Computing unit experienced a 4.4% decline in revenue due to a decrease in device sales and Windows license shipments. Despite this, the company's capex forecast for calendar 2026 remains unchanged after adjusting for an accounting update.