Microsoft Shares Gain 3% Following Q3 Results

Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) fiscal first-quarter results exceeded Wall Street predictions, largely due to the robust performance of its cloud segment, Azure. Shares surged more than 3% intra-day today in response to the positive report.

The tech giant disclosed earnings per share of $2.99 with revenues reaching $56.52 billion, surpassing the projected EPS of $2.65 and revenues of $54.53 billion.

Revenues in the domain of productivity and business processes climbed 13% to $18.6 billion. Furthermore, the intelligent cloud segment, encompassing Azure, experienced a 19% hike, accumulating $24.3 billion. Azure's growth rate for the quarter was at 29%, outpacing the anticipated 26% by Wall Street analysts.

Additionally, Microsoft's commitment to AI, highlighted by the significant $10 billion investment in OpenAI – the entity behind the renowned AI tool ChatGPT – is foreseen as a continual growth catalyst.