Microsoft shares fall amid slowing Azure growth

26.07.2023

Microsoft’s (MSFT) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report showed a sequential decline in revenue growth from its Azure cloud services, eclipsing quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street forecasts.

Microsoft shares fell 4 percent in over-the-counter trading Tuesday night as the tech giant reported fourth-quarter revenue growth from Azure and other cloud services of 26 percent year-over-year, down 1 percentage point from a quarter earlier. Azure revenue growth has declined sequentially every quarter since at least Q3 2022, and remains a focus for investors as companies cut capital spending amid rising interest rates.

During the investor call, Microsoft projected Azure growth of 25% to 26% for the current quarter. When asked directly whether the sequential decline in Azure revenue growth has hit rock bottom, Microsoft executives didn’t give a clear answer.

In the fourth quarter, Microsoft’s total revenue grew 8% to $56.2 billion. Wall Street analysts had expected $55.5 billion. Meanwhile, net income for the quarter rose 20% to $20.1 billion, or $2.69 per share. Analysts had expected $2.55 per share.

By segment, revenue from sales of productivity and business process solutions rose 10% to $18.29 billion, above forecasts of $18.1 billion. Personal Computing revenue declined 4% to $13.9 billion, but was still above forecasts of $13.58 billion. Intelligent cloud computing revenue, led by Azure, grew 15% in the quarter to $24 billion versus forecasts of $23.8 billion.

Microsoft’s fiscal 2023 revenue grew 7%, the lowest annualized growth rate since 2017.