Microsoft pops 9% after earnings beat, on pace for best day in 5 years
Summary
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, speaking on CNBCs "Squawk Box" outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22, 2025. Microsoft shares popped 9% Thursday after the software giant issued strong guidance, and robust cloud growth drove a top-and-bottom line beat in the third quarter. "Clearly, the macro environment remains a wild card, but with Azure back in beat/raise mode, we believe that overhang now turns into a tailwind and highlights not only the significant demand for AI services on Azure, but also MSFTs broad base of infrastructure offerings to support the ongoing migration of enterprise workloads to the cloud," wrote Evercore ISIs Kirk Materne. During its fiscal second-quarter results, Microsofts Azure segment showed lighter-than-expected growth and a deceleration from the previous quarter. Microsoft said it anticipates 34% to 35% Azure growth at constant currency in the current period, versus a 31.5% estimate from StreetAccount.