Microsoft MSFT -2.25% shares rose sharply in the premarket on Wednesday after the company released better-than-expected results for the latest quarter. Good results are a rare positive sign for IT spending as the technology earnings season heats up.

Importantly, Azure, the company’s cloud division, increased revenue by 31% on a currency-adjusted basis, which is at least a point better than most Wall Street forecasts. The company’s main cloud competitors, Amazon AMZN -3.43% and Alphabet GOOGL -2.00%, are trading higher after-hours.