Microsoft (MSFT) shares surged by about 5% in post-market trading on Thursday after the tech giant published its third-quarter earnings, which exceeded analysts' predictions. This success was primarily due to the firm's thriving cloud business. The company's Q3 revenue for fiscal 2024 totaled $61.9 billion, surpassing market expectations and marking a 17% rise from the same period in the previous year. Key to this growth was a 23% annual increase in Microsoft's cloud revenues, which reached $35.1 billion.
Net income and diluted earnings per share (EPS) also outperformed analysts' projections, showing a 20% uptick from the preceding year. An essential contributor to Microsoft's dominance in the market is its partnership with OpenAI, which has positioned the company as a leader in the realm of artificial intelligence. Stakeholders and market experts closely monitored updates about AI tools and their potential monetization schemes.
Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, highlighted the transformational role of AI in the earnings release statement. He stated, "Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry." Microsoft shares rose over 5% to $420.00 during after-hours trading, adding to the stock's year-to-date gain of over 7%.