Microsoft Stock: Microsoft reported higher-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, driven by strong cloud services and growing AI investments. Revenue hit $76.4 billion, and profits rose to $3.65 per share. Azure cloud revenue crossed $75 billion for the year, showing 34% growth. Despite some uncertainty with AI partner OpenAI, Microsoft remains a leader in AI innovation and is expected to see even more growth in 2026.
Microsoft has shared its earnings report for the last quarter, and the results were better than expected. The company made more money than Wall Street thought it would, which caused its stock to rise by over 6%.
Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, said that cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI) are helping businesses across the world change and grow. He also shared that Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, made over $75 billion this year — a 34% increase from the previous year.
Microsoft stock jumps after strong cloud and AI earnings beat expectations
In the last three months, Microsoft (Microsoft stock) made $76.4 billion in revenue and earned $3.65 per share after adjustments. Experts had predicted it would earn $3.37 per share and make $73.89 billion in revenue. This time last year, Microsoft had earned $2.95 per share and made $64.72 billion in revenue.
A big part of Microsoft’s (Microsoft stock) success came from its “Intelligent Cloud” business, which includes Azure. That section made $29.8 billion, which was more than what analysts expected ($29.09 billion). However, the company mentioned that the demand for its cloud services is still higher than what it can supply.
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This news came just a week after Google also reported strong earnings, thanks to its cloud business. Google is now investing $10 billion more into AI, raising its total investment this year to $85 billion. Still, investors seemed more interested in Google’s announcement that its Search business had grown a lot.
Even though Microsoft is doing well, some experts think the real growth from AI will come in 2026. Analyst Dan Ives from Wedbush said that while more companies will start using AI in 2025, 2026 will be the year when Microsoft’s AI business really takes off.
Microsoft stock gains after beating earnings estimates with cloud and AI growth
Another expert, Brad Sills from BofA, said that Microsoft’s new AI tool called Copilot could be the company’s next big success.
Microsoft became a leader in AI early on by investing in OpenAI, the company that made ChatGPT. But now, there are some disagreements between the two companies. OpenAI wants to change its business model to focus more on public benefit, and Microsoft is unsure how much ownership it will get. If Microsoft doesn’t agree with the plan, OpenAI could lose $20 billion in future investments, which may slow down its growth.