Second quarter net income of $6.63 billion, or 77 cents per share, compared with 74 cents per share last year and estimates of 68 cents per share prior to the announcements of results at 5:30 pm New York time on 27 Jan.
Sales rose 4.9 % to $20 billion, beating projections of $19.1 billion, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.
Corporate customers are installing new Office software and buying more server programs, off-setting lower-than-expected PC sales to consumers.
PC shipments in the quarter rose 2.7 percent, below the 5.5 percent projected by researcher IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts, as consumers held off purchases and some opted for Apple Inc.’s iPad tablet computer instead, reported Bloomberg.
The Xbox Kinect motion sensors sold 8 million units – more than twice the 3 million units originally forecasted by the company. The Kinect was launched in November, at prices that ranged from $150 for the product alone to $400 when bundled with the high-end Xbox console.
This is in contrast with the shipment of 2 million licenses for the newly launched Windows 7 for mobile phones. Though within expectations, analysts like Kevin Burden at ABI Research felt it was disappointing.
Overall, good results for Microsoft, with room for improvement for the sales of Windows 7 licenses, and consumer PC sales in the face of competition from the iPad and the slate of tablets from other manufacturers.