Microsoft posted a 65 per cent rise in quarterly profit today following better-than-expected demand for its Windows Vista operating system.
Microsoft posted a net profit of $4.93 billion, or 50 cents per diluted share, in its fiscal third quarter ended March 31st versus a profit of $2.98 billion, or 29 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding tax benefits and a legal charge, Microsoft earned 49 cents per share, beating the average analyst forecast of 46 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose 32 per cent to $14.4 billion. Analysts, on average, had forecast revenue of $13.89 billion, with estimates ranging from $13.73 billion to $14.09 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Shares of Microsoft rose 5 per cent after the announcement, in which the world's biggest software company also forecast 2008 profit at the mid-point of a range of analyst estimates.
Chief financial officer Chris Liddell said consumer sales of Vista surpassed the company's own expectations by $300 million to $400 million.