Microsoft profit tops estimates

MICROSOFT, the world’s largest software maker — which employs more than 600 people in Ireland — reported second-quarter profit that beat estimates, boosted by Christmas sales of Xbox machines and Kinect sensors, as well as corporate software demand.

Net income was $6.62 billion (€5.1bn), or 78 cents a share, compared with $6.63bn, or 77 cents, a year earlier, Microsoft said last night in a statement.

Sales rose to $20.9bn, matching estimates.

Analysts had predicted 76 cents in profit on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Xbox business got a boost from Christmas shoppers, who snapped up its video-game consoles and Kinect sensor controllers, and signed up for the related online service.

That helped make up for slow Windows sales, which were hurt by sluggish demand for personal computers and a shortage of hard drives stemming from floods in Thailand.

“The Xbox numbers were a very strong point,” said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, who rates the shares “sector perform.”

“That was an area that made up for some of the shortfalls in other places,” he said.

Microsoft also lowered its operating-cost projections. In the fiscal year that began July 1, the expenses will be $28.5bn to $28.9bn, down from an October forecast for $28.6bn to $29.2bn.

Bloomberg