Microsoft shares rise 5% as cloud business, AI plans lead quarterly results

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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) shares climbed 5% in after-hours trading Tuesday as the software giant reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that surpassed expectations and sales of cloud and Office services and products grew from a year ago.

For the quarter ending December 31, Microsoft (MSFT) said it earned $2.32 a share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $52.7B. Wall Street analysts had forecast the company to earn $2.31 a share on $53.2B in revenue. While Microsoft's (MSFT) sales fell just shy of expectation, revenue did rise 2% from a year ago.

Among its individual business areas, Microsoft (MSFT) said Intelligent Cloud revenue rose to $21.5B, up by 18% from a year ago, while sales from Productivity and Business Processes, which includes Office commercial and consumer products and cloud services, rose 7% from the same period in 2021, to $17B.

More Personal Computing revenue, which includes Windows, Xbox and other products and service, fell by 19% from a year ago, to $14.2B.

Chief Executive Satya Nadella hinted at where Microsoft (MSFT) is likely to put some of its attention in the years to come, as he said in a statement that the company was developing platforms and tools so that its customers could "do more with less today and innovate for the future in the new era of AI."

That AI comment shouldn't come as a surprise, as Microsoft (MSFT) on Monday confirmed it has made a "multiyear, multibillion dollar" investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.