Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has now reported its fiscal third quarter for 2016. After just being featured as one of two tech giant winners for a changing technology landscape, cloud services revenues continues to rise. The actual report looks a tad under consensus analyst expectations. Microsoft’s guidance was being held until its earnings conference call and webcast.

Revenue from operations, the non-GAAP revenue figure, was $22.1 billion. Operating income was $6.8 billion (non-GAAP), or $0.62 in earnings per share. Thomson First Call had its consensus estimates at $0.64 in earnings per share and $22.09 billion in revenue.

Microsoft returned some $6.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends during the quarter. With a catch-up adjustment, Microsoft’s GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates were 25% and 24%, respectively.

An individual segment-by-segment summary was as follows:

• Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes grew 1% (up 6% in constant currency) to $6.5 billion.
• Revenue in Intelligent Cloud grew 3% (up 8% in constant currency) to $6.1 billion.
• Revenue in More Personal Computing grew 1% (up 3% in constant currency) to $9.5 billion

CEO Satya Nadella said:

Organizations using digital technology to transform and drive new growth increasingly choose Microsoft as a partner. As these organizations turn to us, we’re seeing momentum across Microsoft’s cloud services and with Windows 10.

Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said:

Our continued operational and financial discipline drove solid results this quarter. We remain focused on investing in our strategic priorities to drive long-term growth.

Kevin Turner, chief operating officer at Microsoft, said:

Digital transformation is the number one priority on our customers’ agenda. Companies from large established businesses to emerging start-ups are turning to our cloud solutions to help them move faster and generate new revenue.

Without the guidance, the investing community will have to consider the actual earnings report as an incomplete picture. Microsoft shares closed up 0.34%at $55.78 ahead of the earnings report, versus a 52-week range of $39.72 to $56.85. Its consensus analyst price target was $58.89.

The after-hours reaction initially had shares down almost 4% at $53.60 on Thursday. Again, without guidance most investors will consider this report unfinished business.

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