Expectations were high ahead of Microsoft’s fiscal third-quarter earnings report on Thursday. The PC industry saw a devastating decline in the March quarter but while its vendor partners took a big hit thanks to lackluster Windows 8 demand, industry watchers still saw Microsoft’s profit climbing 13.3% thanks to strong software sales. According to a Thomson Reuters poll of Wall Street analysts, Microsoft was expected to report earnings of $0.68 pre share, or $5.78 billion, on $20.51 billion in revenue. The numbers are now in and Microsoft bucked the PC sales trend while handily beat estimates, posting a profit of $0.72 per share, or $7.61 billion, on $20.5 billion in sales.
In the same quarter last year, Microsoft earned $0.60 per share, or $5.11 billion, on revenue totaling $17.41 billion.
The company’s Windows division racked up sales totaling $5.70 billion in the March quarter, up 23% from the same quarter last year, and its business division grew 8% year-on-year to $6.32 billion.
Microsoft noted in its report that CFO Peter Klein is leaving the company at the end of the current fiscal year, and the company intends to name a successor in the coming weeks.
“I’ve had a great experience as CFO and overall in my time at Microsoft,” Klein said in a prepared statement. “We have an incredibly strong finance organization, and I’m looking forward to working with my successor on the transition through the end of the fiscal year.”
