Microsoft has posted a lower quarterly profit after charges to settle legal disputes but revenue rose a better-than-expected 17 per cent on stronger personal computer sales.
Yesterday's results topped Wall Street expectations and underscored the sustained recovery in technology spending. Microsoft shares rose almost 6 per cent in after-hours trade to a two-month high.
The company reported a profit of $1.32 billion (€1.12 billion), or 12 cents per share, for its third fiscal quarter ended March 31st, compared with a profit of $2.14 billion, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier.
The results included stock compensation expense of $501 million and a $1.89 billion charge related to a settlement with Sun Microsystems and a fine imposed by the European Commission.
Microsoft's earnings also included $1 billion in investment income and its cash hoard ran up to $56 billion at the end of the third quarter, a rise of more than $3 billion.
Analysts and investors have pointed to that rising cash position as evidence Microsoft could raise its meager dividend payout, but the company has so far resisted, citing the need to settle the remaining legal disputes over its market-dominant Windows operating system.
Excluding its charges, Microsoft's third-quarter per-share profit of 34 cents blew past analysts' estimates, which had averaged 29 cents a share, according to Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group.