Microsoft Q3 - Top and bottomline beat

Microsoft posted better top and bottom line numbers than analysts expected. If the company holds onto the 9% after-hours gain, it will be trading at a one-year high and very near the all-time high seen at the end of 2021.

Microsoft and Amazon both complained in their previous quarterly results that their cloud-hosting divisions had been negatively affected by slowing customer IT spending. That seems to have been a temporary blip, as Azure revenue posted strong growth of 27%. Amazon only reports earnings on Thursday, but its share price was up 4% in after-hours trade, on the assumption that AWS will enjoy a similar recovery.

Microsoft noted an increase in sales as AI features were introduced into their suite of products. The expectation is for this trend to accelerate as more features are introduced and as an increasing number of customers embrace AI possibilities.

Microsoft is well-positioned as the key service provider for global businesses and is a must-own in your portfolio.