After market close Tuesday, the software giant posted fiscal fourth quarter net income of US$2.41 billion, or 44 cents per share. First Call's survey of 25 analysts predicted a profit of 42 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30.
Fourth quarter revenue increased to US$5.8 billion, a marginal improvement from US$5.76 billion in the comparable period a year ago. Microsoft CFO John Connors cited consumer business and Asia as especially strong areas of growth.
Windows platform revenue in the fourth quarter rose 5.7 percent year-over-year, to US$2.37 billion from US$2.25 billion. But sales from productivity applications and developer tools fell 9.9 percent over the same period, to US$2.64 billion from US$2.93 billion. Unlike the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999, which saw the launch of Office 2000, the latest quarter completed saw no major applications introduced.
Prior to the earnings announcement, several Wall Street analysts had echoed the company's own concerns that a slowdown in business PC sales could hurt Microsoft's revenue growth.
Consumer revenue increased to US$796 million from US$593 million.
"Although we remain guarded in the near term about business PC growth rates, we look forward to the tremendous opportunity in front of us with the Windows 2000 generation of server products," Connors said in a statement.
Among geographic areas, Asia led with 20.9 percent growth, to US$689 million from US$570 million. Revenue from Microsoft's South Pacific and Americas region slid 5.3 percent to US$2.23 billion from US$2.36 billion. Europe, Middle East and Africa revenue dipped 3.9 percent to US$1.2 billion from US$1.15 billion.
Sales related to original equipment manufacturers gained 5.6 percent to US$1.73 billion from US$1.63 billion.
The company reiterated its claim to have seized the traffic lead for Internet properties. The MSN network recorded 20 percent growth in average minutes of use per user, and 19 percent year-over-year growth in US audience reach. The company's ISP, MSN Internet Access, now has 3 million members, a 20 percent improvement from a year earlier.
For the full fiscal 2000, Microsoft earned US$9.42 billion, or US$1.70 per share, on revenue of US$22.96 billion.
