Microsoft last night reported quarterly earnings and revenues that edged past Wall Street expectations and said it would post a slightly higher profit for the fiscal year than it had forecast.
But the world's largest software company also issued a cautious outlook for the coming fiscal year, saying it did not expect an economic rebound to drive a recovery in spending on computers and related software.
Microsoft reported a net profit of $2.79 billion (€2.58 billion), or 26 cents per share, for its fiscal third quarter ended March 31st - compared with $2.74 billion, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a profit of 24 cents per share.
Revenues rose to $7.84 billion from $7.25 billion a year earlier, compared with the $7.75 billion projected by analysts polled by Thomson First Call.
Microsoft shares rose to $25.70 on the Instinet system in after-hours trade, up from a Nasdaq close of $24.61.
Microsoft said it now expects earnings of 97 cents or 98 cents per share on revenue between $31.9 billion and $32 billion for the current fiscal year. In January, Microsoft had said it expected earnings of 95 cents to about 96 cents on revenue between $31.9 billion and $32.1 billion.
But Microsoft forecast revenues for the next fiscal year ending in June 2004 would be between $33.1 billion and $33.8 billion, short of the average analyst forecast of $34.9 billion as tracked by Multex.
Microsoft employs about 1,600 staff in Dublin.