Image Source: Unsplash

For the quarter ended September 2024, Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) reported revenue of $65.59 billion, up 16% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $3.30, compared to $2.99 in the year-ago quarter.

The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $64.41 billion, representing a surprise of +1.82%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +7.14%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $3.08.

While investors closely watch year-over-year changes in headline numbers -- revenue and earnings -- and how they compare to Wall Street expectations to determine their next course of action, some key metrics always provide a better insight into a company's underlying performance.

As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately.

Here is how Microsoft performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

• Percentage Change in Revenue Y/Y: 16% versus the 10-analyst average estimate of 13.9%.
• Productivity and Business Processes - Percentage Change in Revenue Y/Y: 12% versus 10.5% estimated by nine analysts on average.
• Intelligent Cloud - Percentage Change in Revenue Y/Y: 20% versus the nine-analyst average estimate of 18.7%.
• More Personal Computing - Percentage Change in Revenue Y/Y: 17% versus 10.6% estimated by nine analysts on average.
• Revenue- More Personal Computing: $13.18 billion versus $14.44 billion estimated by 11 analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -3.6% change.
• Revenue- Intelligent Cloud: $24.09 billion compared to the $27.45 billion average estimate based on 11 analysts. The reported number represents a change of -0.7% year over year.
• Revenue- Productivity and Business Processes: $28.32 billion versus the 11-analyst average estimate of $22.49 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +52.3%.
• Productivity and Business Processes- Linkedin Revenue: $4.29 billion versus $4.24 billion estimated by six analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +9.7% change.
• More Personal Computing- Revenue from Gaming: $5.62 billion versus the six-analyst average estimate of $5.18 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of +43.4%.
• More Personal Computing- Search and news advertising: $3.23 billion versus $3.39 billion estimated by five analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +5.6% change.
• Intelligent Cloud- Enterprise Services and partner service: $1.93 billion versus the five-analyst average estimate of $1.89 billion. The reported number represents a year-over-year change of -0.8%.
• Intelligent Cloud- Revenue from Server products and cloud services: $22.16 billion compared to the $26.77 billion average estimate based on five analysts. The reported number represents a change of -0.7% year over year.

Shares of Microsoft have returned +2.7% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.8% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

More By This Author: