Along with Build, Microsoft is planning a couple of events at the end of April that may prove just as interesting, news-wise, as the highly anticipated developer’s conference. On April 23rd, Microsoft will release its 3rd quarter earnings statement, one that could show just how far and how fast PC sales are falling. Then less than a week later, Microsoft will gather financial analysts together in conjunction with Build, and hold its annual Financial Analyst Briefing on April 29th, from City View at Metreon in San Francisco, just around the corner from the Moscone Center where Build will be in full swing.
Microsoft’s earnings per share for the third quarter are expected to be at around 52 cents, well below the 68 cents per share the company earned in the third quarter last year, for although Microsoft’s stock is up some 6.5% since CEO Satya Nadella took over just over a year ago, the Standard and Poors Index was up almost 16% for the same period. Since the start of the year, Microsoft’s market cap has fallen some 13%, taking almost 40 billion dollars off the books.
Still, with high hopes on Windows 10, Cortana, Azure, and even Windows Phone, along with new initiatives like the HoloLens coming on board, the longer term outlook for Microsoft seems to be fairly bright, but this may well be somewhat of a brutal quarter, and Microsoft’s CFO Amy Hood may have to do her best spin control performance of her tenure to keep analysts happy until we see if Windows 10 is indeed the hit that Microsoft hopes it will be.
Microsoft will be conducting a conference call on the earnings, as usual, on the 23rd, and will webcast the Financial Analyst Briefing, beginning at 2pm PDT (GMT -7) on the 29th.
