Vole announced its results which were so good that it broke past a level hit in 1999 at the peak of the tech stock bubble. This was while its traditional bread and butter, Windows OS, is suffering from the fact that PC sales are lower than a limbo dancing flat worm.
What gave Microsoft its edge was the fact that sales of its flagship cloud product doubled in its first quarter, propelling earnings above analysts' estimates.
This means that since Ballmer headed off to shout at basketball teams, Microsoft’s shares have doubled under Chief Executive Satya Nadella. And while we miss Steve for shear entertainment value, it seems that the less interesting Nadella is far better for Microsoft.
Under his rule, Microsoft has shifted focus to the cloud and its rather good Azure product. The fact it got into it early means that it is in a good position to take on the main rival – Amazon.
Microsoft said that sales from its flagship cloud product Azure, which businesses can use to host their websites, apps or data, rose 116 percent. Revenue for its broader "Intelligent Cloud" business rose 8.3 percent to $6.38 billion, beating analysts' average estimate of $6.27 billion.
Nadella told analysts that Microsoft was not just building or moving clients' IT. Customers "are building new digital services for hyper scale. And that's what is probably unique in terms of what has changed year over year for us.”
"It's not just the Silicon Valley start-ups anymore; it is the core enterprise that is also becoming a digital company. And we are well-positioned to serve them," he said.
The company forecast that sales for its Intelligent Cloud business will be between $6.55 billion and $6.75 billion in the current quarter, compared with $6.34 billion in the same period a year earlier.
The only shadow on Volish fortune has been the dips in sales for other units of the company in the quarter. Revenue in the unit that includes Windows software and the company's struggling mobile business fell 1.8 percent to $9.29 billion.
Microsoft forecast the division will have sales of up to $11.6 billion in the current quarter - well below the $12.7 billion it posted for the unit a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Microsoft reported revenue of $22.33 billion, above the average estimate of $21.71 billion.
