Microsoft FY18 Q4 earnings: $30.1 billion in revenue propelled by more cloud growth

Microsoft today released its earnings report for FY18 Q4, showing revenues of $30.1 billion and $8.9 billion in net income. That's up from the same period a year ago, during which Microsoft brought in $25.6 billion in revenue and $8.1 billion in net income.

Here are the highlights from this quarter's release:

• Revenue was $30.1 billion and increased 17%
• Operating income was $10.4 billion and increased 35%
• Net income was $8.9 billion GAAP and $8.8 billion non-GAAP
• Diluted earnings per share was $1.14 GAAP and $1.13 non-GAAP

Cloud and Office

Microsoft's results for Q4 outperformed analyst expectations, which were pegging revenue to fall somewhere in the $29 billion range. A large reason for that is the continued strength of Microsoft's cloud and Office efforts, which have been exceptional performers for the company for some time.

In particular, the fourth quarter saw Microsoft's Office commercial products and cloud services increase revenue by 10 percent, mostly driven by 38 percent growth in Office 365 commercial revenue. Meanwhile, Office consumer products and cloud services revenue was up by eight percent, with Office 365 consumer subscribers increasing to 31.4 million.

LinkedIn also saw a relatively large increase in revenue, posting 37 percent growth over the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud business, which includes its server products and cloud services, rose by 23 percent.

Surface, Windows, and gaming

Switching gears to the More Personal Computing category, revenue increased by 17 percent, moving up to $10.8 billion. That's on the back of a seven percent increase in Windows OEM revenue and a 23 percent jump in Windows commercial products and cloud services revenue.

Meanwhile, gaming revenue was up by 39 percent, including a 36 percent jump for Xbox software and services. Microsoft's Surface business also saw significant growth for the quarter, posting a 25 percent gain over the same time last year.

Finally, in addition to its Q4 release, Microsoft provided a look at how it performed for the entirety of the 2018 fiscal year. For the 12 months ending on June 30, Microsoft totalled revenues of $110.36 billion, which is a 14 percent jump over its total 2017 performance ($96.57 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.