check out the last paragraph...
Microsoft Provides Upbeat Guidance and Forecasts Continued Strength in the Cloud
By Eric J. Savitz
https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/microsoft-alphabet-google-amd-earnings-stock-price-today/card/microsoft-provides-upbeat-guidance-and-forecasts-continued-strength-in-the-cloud-3MbQJUwGdKOtfub4h1r5
Microsoft shares have pared their earlier after-hours losses and are now trading essentially flat after the company provided upbeat guidance during its earnings conference call with investors.
Microsoft expects Azure growth in the quarter on a constant currency basis to be in line with the 28% growth in the December quarter, about a percentage point ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Microsoft reports guidance by business segment.
For the Productivity and Business Processes segment, which includes Office and other software, the company sees revenue ranging from $19.3 billion to $19.6 billion, up between 10% and 12%, and at the middle of the range, a little ahead of the Street consensus of $19.4 billion.
For its Intelligent Cloud unit, including Azure, the company sees revenue of between $26 billion and $26.3 billion, up between 18% and 19%, and above the consensus of $25.9 billion.
For More Personal Computing, which includes gaming, Windows and Surface hardware, Microsoft sees revenue of between $14.7 billion and $15.1 billion, up between 11% and 14%, but shy of the consensus at $15.4 billion, due in part to continued soft PC demand.
CFO Amy Hood said on the call that the company expects a material sequential increase in capital spending in the March quarter.
She also said that operating margin for the full year in fiscal 2024 will improve one to two percentage points, despite higher investment in cloud and AI infrastructure.
Hood also said that the company's headcount at quarter end was down about 2% from a year earlier.