Microsoft shares update: 4th quarter earnings

Microsoft @ $27.96, +42c (+1.53%) as at 19.26 gmt.


Microsoft shares have led me a merry dance over the last few months but finally appear to be recovering some poise and returning to their upward trend following quarterly results - www.microsoft.com: Microsoft Reports Record Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results.


Initially dropping as the underlying message was a bit more difficult to digest than the headline. Profits were up 30% to $5.87bn on revenue growth of just 8%. All sounds positive to me.
Profits were driven by demand for Office which brings us to the "but" which leads us to the detail that the search engine, Bing, recorded a loss (despite sales growth) and slowing growth in PC sales due to tablets.
However, the flipside on tablet growth is that they still require servers in the background to support data traffic.


Anyway, the shares have started to show a little momentum and touched $28 today before falling back slightly. This compares well to the 52 week high of $28.87 last seen 12 months ago.
Sitting in the growth side of the virtual portfolio the investment is also a member of my jokingly titled Globally Diversified Technology, Growth, and Hedge portfolio!!!.
To date it has delivered a 10.9% capital gain (down slightly as sterling has strengthened) and provided dividends amounting to a further 1.6%.
The shares are also due to go ex-dividend on the 16th August, with the dividend of 16c per share being payable on the 8th September (www.microsoft.com: Microsoft Declares Quarterly Dividend).


I guess it might be a little questionable looking for growth but there are still opportunities for the company to utilise its significant cash pile and re-energise itself. It is a technology company after all and retains a significant leverage-able presence in the business and leisure sectors.


Related articles:
- www.telegraph.co.uk: Microsoft profits jump 30pc on Office demand.


Microsoft press releases:
- www.microsoft.com: Microsoft Reports Record Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year Results
- www.microsoft.com: Microsoft Declares Quarterly Dividend


Related post:
- Globally Diversified Technology, Growth, and Hedge portfolio!!!