Microsoft earnings top estimates

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft on Thursday said its fiscal first quarter revenue jumped to $23.2 billion, topping Wall Street estimates.
The company said it earned 54 cents a share, or $5.84 billion.
Analysts had expected Microsoft to earn 49 cents a share, down from 62 cents, or $5.2 billion, a year ago, according to Yahoo Finance. Revenue expectations were $22 billion.
Shares of Microsoft closed at $45.02 in regular trading Thursday, up about 1.4%. After hours, shares were trading up about 3% a $46.50.
"We delivered a strong start to the year, with continued cloud momentum and meaningful progress across our device businesses," said Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood, in a press release.
The consumer division, which includes, devices saw revenue growth of 47% to $10.96 billion, Microsoft said. Among highlights, Office 365 Home and Personal totaled more than 7 million, up more than 25% over the 4th quarter of 2014.
Ahead of the announcement, Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said that growth in cloud offerings such as Office 365 and the company's Windows Azure cloud computing platform are key areas to watch as Microsoft moves "away from the old PC and software licensing model."'
In July, the company the announced its fourth-quarter earnings less than a week after making public plans to cut 18,000 employees, or about 14% of its work force, mostly from its Nokia smartphone unit.
Lifting its share of a smartphone market dominated by Google's Android platform and the Apple iPhone juggernaut is also crucial for Microsoft. Its Windows Phone had a 4.8% share of the U.S. market last year and is expected to decline slightly, according to eMarketer.

 From USATODAY.COM