For its first fiscal quarter 2004, Microsoft posted revenue of US$8.22 billion, up six percent from US$7.75 billion it earned for the year-ago period.
For the quarter ending September 30, 2003, the software giant reported a net profit of US$2.61 billion, or US24 cents per share, compared with a profit of US$2.04 billion, or US19 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected profits in the 29-cent range.
The quarter's numbers include US$680 million for after-tax equity compensation.
Sales of servers and tools grew 15 percent compared to last year to US$1.87 billion for the quarter. The company said its database, network operating system and e-mail servers all saw double-digit growth.
The earnings news comes just two days after the company's big Office System 2003 christening, and looking forward, the company expects its second fiscal quarter revenue to fall between US$9.7 billion and US$9.8 billion with operating income ranging from US$3.2 billion to US$3.3 billion, including equity compensation expenses of about US$1 billion.
Diluted earnings are expected to be around US23 to US24 cents per share.
Mid next year, the company said it would start expensing stock-based compensation.
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