Microsoft Stock Up 5% As Profits Beat Estimates

Microsoft’s recent cost cutting moves pleased investors today and the company was rewarded with a 5% rise in its stock price as of 3pm today (October 23rd, 2009).

First-quarter net income fell to $3.57 billion, or 40 cents a share, beating the 32-cent average estimate of analysts. Highights from their earning annoucement include:

• The company said it will spend as much as $26.5 billion on operating costs in the year ending June 30, down from a previous forecast for as much as $26.9 billion.
• Microsoft sold more copies of Windows last quarter than in any previous period because of Windows 7 orders and high demand for the older Windows XP used on cheap laptops called netbooks, General Manager Bill Koefoed said in an interview.
• Microsoft’s search engine Bing, released in June, has taken more than a percentage point of market share, according to research firm ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia. Microsoft had 9.4 percent of the U.S. search market in September, compared with 64.9 percent for Google Inc. and 18.8 percent for Yahoo! Inc.ComScore said.