Microsoft's results are closely tied to sales of PCs, which rose in the latest quarter by about 2 per cent after two quarters of declines.
The company did not include any pre-sales of Windows 7 in its latest results, offering the hope that the current quarter will show a boost in sales from the new system.
"You are seeing some of the benefit of the improvement in PCs that we have heard about," said Brendan Barnicle at Pacific Crest Securities. "This is a trend. They've got some good momentum behind them and it's just going to get accelerated now that you have Windows 7 out in the market.
The company, which is tightening its belt in the economic slowdown, also cut its outlook for operating expenses for the full fiscal year to $26.2 billion from its previous target of $26.5 billion.
Quarterly profit fell in Microsoft's main units, producing the Windows operating system and Office suite of applications. Profit rose in its server unit and its entertainment and devices unit, which makes the Xbox console and Halo video game series.
Microsoft shares were up 7.6 per cent, or $1.99, to $28.58 in early Nasdaq trading. They have risen 92 per cent since hitting a more-than 10 year low in March.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment