Microsoft profit declines 18% but tops estimates

happylux

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Software giant Microsoft Corp.   on Friday reported an 18% drop in fiscal first-quarter earnings, but results easily beat Wall Street's forecast and the company's stock surged in premarket action. The Redmond, Wash.-based company said net income slipped to $3.57 billion, or 40 cents a share, from $4.37 billion, or 48 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue fell 14% to $12.92 billion, though the decline was smaller 4% adjusted for the deferral of sales of Microsoft's new Windows 7 software. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had estimated Microsoft would post earnings of 32 cents a share and $12.4 billion in revenue. Tight cost controls contributed to better-than-expected profit, the company said. Shares of Microsoft, which closed Thursday at $26.59, jumped to $28.68 in preopen trades.

happylux

Stock futures rise after Microsoft results

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures added gains on Friday after Microsoft Corp (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) reported first-quarter results, while investors awaited existing home sales data later in the morning.

S&P 500 futures rose 3.50 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 12 points, and Nasdaq futures gained 12.50 points.

Cooker

Wow

olderfrog