Solid sales of Xbox help home and entertainment unit revenues jump 9 percent.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company said it earned $2.9 billion, or 27 cents per share, on revenue of $9.19 billion for the three months ended Sept. 30. That compares with earnings of $2.6 billion, or 24 cents per share, on revenue of $8.22 billion in the same quarter a year ago. In July, Microsoft forecast revenue of $8.9 billion to $9 billion, with earnings per share of 25 cents, including about 5 cents per share in stock-based compensation expenses. Microsoft said Thursday that its per-share earnings included 5 cents worth of compensation-related charges.
"We"ve had a strong beginning to what we expect will be a very good year with continued growth in both our commercial and consumer businesses," Microsoft CFO John Connors said in a statement. "This quarter, we had a very healthy commercial server and desktop business driving double-digit revenue growth, and we expect to continue the trend of growing revenue faster than expenses as we work to make each of our businesses more efficient and profitable."