Microsoft Corp posted results on Tuesday that showed some strength in the face of a weak economy, buttressed by a cloud business that hit Wall Street targets for the end of 2022, but it may miss expectations in the current quarter.
The relatively stable outlook helped assuage fears that the lucrative cloud segment for big tech companies could be hit hard as customers look to cut spending, and cloud revenue in the fiscal second quarter reported on Tuesday made up for some weakness in the PC unit.
“The small miss on Microsoft’s cloud earnings forecast is likely just a reflection of the new economic reality that businesses are facing and not a harbinger of something worse,” said Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research.
Microsoft’s shares rose 4% initially after the results before reversing course to slip 1% to $239.58 in after-hours trade. The stock has fallen…