Shares of Microsoft Corp were set to open at a record high on Friday, after the company reported another blockbuster quarter, backed by growth in its legacy software business and Azure cloud computing services. Shares of one of the technology world's oldest and best-known names rose 4 per cent to $108.50 in trading before the bell, potentially adding nearly $32 billion to a market capitalisation that was already $802 billion at close on Thursday. At least six brokerages raised their price targets on the company's stock after the results. Helped by a boom in demand for cloud-based software, Microsoft has more than doubled in value since Satya Nadella took over as chief executive in 2014 and refocused the software behemoth on newer businesses. While Microsoft's core productivity and business processes unit, which includes the Office 365 software suite, rose 13.1 per cent to $9.67 billion, revenue for the Azure cloud service jumped 89 per cent.
No comments:
Post a Comment