Microsoft beats 2Q forecasts
Microsoft Corp. reported yet another quarter of strongerthan-expected results on Thursday, thanks to its focus on online services and business software rather than its legacy Windows operating system.
Microsoft says it earned $5.2 billion, or 66 cents per share, in the final three months of the year, up from $5.02 billion a year earlier.
Earnings, adjusted for nonrecurring costs, came to 84 cents per share. The average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for 79 cents per share.
The software maker posted revenue of $24.1 billion in the period. Adjusted revenue was $26.1 billion, also topping Wall Street forecasts. Nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $25.2 billion.
As sales of Windows PCs decline, CEO Satya Nadella has been pouring money and resources into remote data centers that deliver the company’s services online to smartphones, tablets and other devices.
Businesses and government agencies are increasingly turning to such “cloud computing” services, which again helped boost Microsoft’s revenue, just as it did in the previous quarter.
Microsoft closed its $26 billion purchase of professional networking service LinkedIn in December.
Shares of the Redmond, Washington, company have climbed slightly more than 3 percent since the beginning of the year, roughly matching the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
Alphabet
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) on Thursday reported fourthquarter earnings of $5.33 billion.
On a per-share basis, the Mountain View, Californiabased company said it had net income of $7.56. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense, came to $9.36 per share.
The internet search leader posted revenue of $26.06 billion in the period. Its adjusted revenue was $21.22 billion.
Intel
Intel Corp. on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $3.56 billion.
On a per-share basis, the Santa Clara, Californiabased company said it had net income of 73 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 79 cents per share.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 75 cents per share.
Ford
Ford announced that net income fell nearly 40 percent last year as a big pension adjustment and the cost of scrapping a new plant in Mexico outweighed an otherwise strong performance.
The company posted $4.6 billion in net income, down nearly $2.8 billion from a year earlier. But Ford said its pretax profit for the year hit $10.4 billion, the second-best ever, while revenue rose slightly to $151.8 billion.
Ford’s 56,000 U.S. hourly workers will reap the benefits. They’ll get average profitsharing checks of $9,000 based on a pretax North American profit of just over $9 billion.
Fiat Chrysler
Fiat Chrysler reported improved earnings for the fourth quarter and for 2016 as a whole.
For the full year, it saw net profit jump to 1.81 billion euros ($1.92 billion) from 93 million euros in 2015 as a more profitable model mix and lower costs helped overcome a sales decline in North American markets.
Profit margins in its U.S. and Canada business increased to 7.4 percent from 6.4 percent. The margin is a key figure for automakers, reflecting how much they are able to earn per vehicle.