This afternoon, MSFT posted results for its fiscal first quarter ended September 30 that were below Street estimates, as weak PC demand took a toll on the business.
For the quarter, the company reported GAAP revenue of $16 billion, down 8% from a year ago, and a bit below the Street at $16.42 billion. GAAP profits were 53 cents a share, shy of the Street at 56 cents. The company notes that results reflect $1.356 billion of revenue that was deferred to reflect upgrade offers for pending releases of both Windows and Office, and for Windows 8 pre-sales. If you add that revenue back, adjusted revenue was $17.364 billion, flat with a year ago, and profits were 65 cents a share, down 4% from a year ago.
“While enterprise revenue continued to grow and we managed our expenses, the slowdown in PC demand ahead of the Windows 8 launch resulted in a decline in operating income,” CFO Peter Klein said in a statement. “Multi-year licensing revenue grew double-digits across Windows, Server & Tools, and Microsoft Business Division products as businesses commit to our technology roadmap.”
- Server & Tools revenue totaled $4.55 billion, up 8%, “driven by double-digit revenue growth in SQL Server and more than 20% growth in System Center revenue.”
- Microsoft Business Division revenue was $5.50 billion, down 2%, but up 1% on an adjusted basis.
- Windows & Windows Live Division posted revenue of $3.24 billion, down 33% from the prior year period, or down 9% on an adjusted basis. That is consistent with recent reports that PC sales were down more than 8% year-over-year in the September quarter.
- Online services revenue was $697 million, up 9%. Online ad revenue was up 15%, driven by an increase in revenue per search on Bing. The division lost $364 million in the quarter, compared with a loss of $514 million a year earlier.
- Entertainment and Devices Division posted revenue of $1.95 billion, down 1%. Operating income in the division fell to $19 million, from $340 million in the year earlier quarter.
Microsoft affirmed that it expects FY 2013 operating expenses of $30.3 billion to $30.9 billion.
The company had cash and short-term investments at quarter end of $66.6 billion, up from $63 billion at the end of June.
MSFT in late trading is down 67 cents, or 2.3%, to $28.83.
