It is once again that time of year, and Microsoft is set to release its fourth quarter earnings after the markets close today. As the Wall Street Journal reports, there are several key areas to watch ahead of the report.
Analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters call for Microsoft to have an earnings share of 58 cents, a significant improvement over the 40 cent earning shares loss from Q4 last year, which was fueled by the $7.6 billion write-down on the Nokia acquisition. Additionally, Microsoft’s total sales are expected to remain about the same as Q4 last year, at 22.1 billion dollars.
Other areas of note according to the Wall Street Journal include Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, which is forecast by Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Brad Reback to have grown by up to 95% year-over-year. Additionally, since Microsoft recently broke news that it acquired LinkedIn, some more additional financial details on the deal might emerge today. Office 365 Adoption rates, and the fact that Windows 10 will miss the goal of one billion devices by June 2018, also are worth watching for possible impacts on the earnings report.
Stay Tuned to WinBeta, as we will have the complete details of Microsoft’s fourth quarter earnings later today.
