Microsoft is tempering its income outlook as it boosts research and development spending.
For the current fourth quarter ending June 30th, Microsoft said it expects to earn 30 cents per share, below the 34 cents per share that analysts had been predicting.
The company also said it expects to see revenue of between $11.5 billion and $11.7 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts, on average, have been predicting revenue of $11.64 billion for that quarter.
For the fiscal year ending in June 2007, Microsoft said it expects to earn between $1.36 per share and $1.41 per share on revenue of $49.5 billion to $50.5 billion.
The earnings guidance came as the software maker reported fiscal third quarter earnings Thursday that missed Wall Street expectations.
For the three months ended March 31st, Microsoft earned $2.98 billion, or 29 cents per share, compared with $2.56 billion, or 23 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
Revenue for the three-month period was $10.9 billion, a 13 per cent increase over sales of $9.62 billion a year earlier.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 33 cents per share, on revenue of $11.04 billion.
AP