Microsoft Misses Revenue Mark, Shares Fall

(Reuters)

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Microsoft Corp posted a steeper-than-expected 17 percent drop in quarterly revenue and said its business continued to be hurt by the weak global PC and server markets, sending its shares down 8 percent.

The world’s largest software maker, whose operating systems power the vast majority of the world’s personal computers, reported fiscal fourth quarter net profit of $3.045 billion, or 34 cents per share, compared with $4.297 billion, or 46 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Profit excluding items was 38 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, beating analysts’ average forecast of 36 cents per share according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales fell 17 percent to $13.1 billion, missing analysts’ average estimate of $14.48 billion.

Microsoft’s shares fell to $23.44 in extended trading, after closing up 3 percent at $25.56 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Tiffany Wu; Editing by Richard Chang)