Microsoft Corporation (MSFT): Here’s The Numbers Savvy Investors Should Know

Several hours to go until Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) releases its results for the third quarter of 2013. In a period when the PC market is facing an ongoing downfall and is losing ground before other devices, Microsoft’s results are very well expected by almost everybody..to be unimpressive at best. The release of these financial figures is crucial especially after the blogosphere’s perceived failure of Windows 8; we’ll get some hard data soon. Moreover, the Surface information will be interesting as well. Interestingly, Microsoft’s stock price is up by 5.5% in the past three months, so short term bulls have still done alright.

PC

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the leaders in the PC market with its Windows operation system, and since all the rumors regarding the death of the PC and the apparent fall of the market, it could be that the negativism among analysts will actually be confirmed. A point that states the idea could be the example of Intel, which recently posted a 6% decline in PC sales. This could be also true for Microsoft.

Cloud

A key that could push Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s numbers higher represent its achievements in the cloud computing. Even though its new product, Office 365, will likely bring a smaller cash outlay at the beginning, and sales from Office might also fall for a short period, at the end of the day, the income generated by the product should be positive.

Phone

At the same time, since, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Windows Phone is the main key of a partnership between Microsoft and Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)‘s new flagship, Lumia, and it is expected that the sales of Lumia could actually be a proof of Nokia’s comeback. In this way, Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)’s success by extension will represent a success for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in the area of Smartphones.

Therefore, before Microsoft releases it’s financial results, let’s take a look at the estimates for the third quarter (via Bloomberg):

Key Information

Period: Q3 2013

Date of Release: 5:30pm EDT, Apr 18, 2013

Earnings on the next page:

Earnings

Q3 2012 EPS: $0.60

Q3 2013 consensus expected EPS: $0.75

High expectation: $0.81

Low expectation: $0.70

Revenues on the next page:

Revenues

Q3 2012 revenues: $17.4B

Q3 2013 consensus revenues: $20.5B

High expectation: $21.6B

Low expectation: $19.7

Stock price action on the next page:

Year-to-date chart

MSFT data by YCharts