Microsoft FY17 Q4 earnings: $24.7 billion in revenue on cloud strength

The earnings report for FY17 Q4 shows a total of $24.7 billion in revenue (non-GAAP) and $7.7 billion in net income. That's up from the same period a year ago, during which Microsoft brought in $22.6 billion in revenue and $5.5 billion in net income.

Here are some of the highlights from this quarter's release:

• Revenue was $23.3 billion GAAP, and $24.7 billion non-GAAP
• Operating income was $5.3 billion GAAP, and $7.0 billion non-GAAP
• Net income was $6.5 billion GAAP, and $7.7 billion non-GAAP
• Diluted earnings per share was $0.83 GAAP, and $0.98 non-GAAP

In what has become a trend in recent quarters, Microsoft touts the strength of its cloud business as a driver of growth for this quarter. Intelligent Cloud revenue increased by 11 percent to $7.4 billion, driven largely by a 15 percent increase in cloud services revenue. Office was also a strong performer for the quarter, with Office commercial products and Office consumer products increasing by 5 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Revenue in Microsoft's "More Personal Computing" category, which counts Windows OEM revenue, Surface, gaming and more, was actually down by 2 percent to $8.8 billion. Microsoft blames that decrease largely on lower phone revenue, which it says was "immaterial and declined $361 million." Here are the highlights:

• Windows OEM revenue increased 1% (up 1% in constant currency), slightly ahead of the overall PC market
• Windows commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 8% (up 8% in constant currency) driven by annuity revenue growth
• Surface revenue decreased 2% (down 1% in constant currency) mainly due to product lifecycle transitions
• Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 10% (up 11% in constant currency) driven by higher revenue per search and search volume
• Gaming revenue increased 3% (up 4% in constant currency) as strength in Xbox software and services offset lower hardware revenue

On top of its Q4 results, Microsoft also reported results for the full 2017 fiscal year. For the twelve months ending on June 30, the company brought in (non-GAAP) revenues of $96.7 billion and net income of $25.9 billion. That's up from the previous year, in which the company reported (non-GAAP) revenues of $91.9 billion and a net income of $22.3 billion.

As usual, Microsoft will hold a conference call and webcast at 2:30 p.m. PT / 5:30 p.m. ET on its investor site to discuss the earnings.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.