Microsoft Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates; Cloud Revenue Tops $50-B

Microsoft reported second-quarter earnings after the bell at one point last week, beating Wall Street estimates on both revenue and profit, with cloud revenue topping $50 billion for the first time.

Microsoft has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom. (Photo: Microsoft X)

The company’s stock fell 6% before the bell, Daniel Howley reported for Yahoo Finance.

“We are only at the beginning phases of AI diffusion, and already Microsoft has built an AI business larger than some of our biggest franchises,” Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in a statement.

“We are pushing the frontier across our entire AI stack to drive new value for customers and partners.”

Microsoft has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, fueled by early investments in ChatGPT developer OpenAI that pushed its market capitalization above $4 trillion in July.

Shares have since pulled back as investors question the industry’s massive AI spending. In the quarter, Microsoft reported earnings per share of $5.16 on revenue of $81.27 billion, topping Wall Street expectations of $3.92 and $80.3 billion.

Microsoft Cloud revenue came in at $51.5 billion, slightly ahead of forecasts of $51.2 billion, compared with $40.9 billion in the same period last year.