Microsoft Tops Earnings and Revenue Expectations, Sells 8.6 Million Lumia Phones in Q3

Xbox Live usage rises 30 percent in the three-month period

Satya Nadella

Microsoft released its third quarter 2015 financials on Thursday afternoon just after the U.S. stock markets closed, reporting earnings per share of $0.61 on net income of $4.985 billion and $21.7 billion in revenue.

Wall Street had forecast earnings per share of $0.51 on $21.1 billion in revenue, according to numbers compiled by Yahoo Finance. Zacks concurred with the EPS estimate. Clearly, the massive tech company beat both marks.

Microsoft’s Devices and Customer revenue grew 8 percent in the quarter, contributing to the strong numbers. Specifically, the company sold 8.4 million Lumia phones for $1.4 billion in revenue. It also saw Xbox Live usage rise 30 percent, as the Surface Pro 3 drove a 44 percent jump in revenue for that particular product. Search ad revenue rose 21 percent, while Windows OEM revenue dropped.

Meanwhile, Commercial revenue increased five percent in Q3, with a dramatic 106 percent rise in cloud sales.

“Customers continue to choose Microsoft to transform their business and as a result we saw incredible growth across our cloud services this quarter,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Next week at Build we’re excited to share more about how we’re empowering every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more with the next generation of our platforms.”

“We executed with strong operational and financial discipline again this quarter, and are seeing positive impact from our investments in key growth areas,” said Amy Hood, chief financial officer at Microsoft. “We remain focused on maximizing shareholder value and again increased our overall return of capital to shareholders.”

“Around the world we’re seeing high interest in deployment of our cloud and server products, as well as participation in the enterprise early adopter program for Windows 10,” added Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft.

Microsoft closed its Xbox Studios in October, completing a massive restructuring that included 3,000 layoffs.

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