Microsoft Corp. recently announced its results for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 with revenue of $ 43.1 billion (up 17% compared to the same period last year), operating income of $ 17.9 billion (up 29%) and earnings per share of $ 2.03 (up 34%). These results out-performing the analyst expectations. Net income rose 33% compared to the same quarter last year, reaching $ 15.5 billion.
Despite the current worldwide crises, the revenue from the Dynamics ERP and CRM products and cloud services increased 21%, mostly driven by Dynamics 365 cloud revenue growth of 39%. In Q1 2021, Dynamics products and cloud services revenue were up 19%, driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 38%.This growth is about three times faster than the market for ERP and CRM solutions.
“Accelerating demand for our differentiated offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to $16.7 billion, up 34% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “We continue to benefit from our investments in strategic, high-growth areas.”
Many providers of business software have been hit hard by the crisis. Their stagnating or even declining turnover often translates into savings on the R&D spending, slowing growth in the number of employees and slower innovation. Microsoft’s sustained growth enables the company to continue her investments in the field of Research and Development, personnel growth and continuous innovation. Speeding up its mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
“What we have witnessed over the past year is the dawn of a second wave of digital transformation sweeping every company and every industry,” said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Building their own digital capability is the new currency driving every organization’s resilience and growth. Microsoft is powering this shift with the world’s largest and most comprehensive cloud platform.”
The ongoing strong results confirm the confident that the Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation partners and their customers have in an ongoing innovative future. And as a Dynamics 365 partner, we love to repeat this mantra: “a strategic choice for a Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions is a choice for a stream of innovation that will never stop”.
Microsoft shares have been on a steady rise, jumping 63% in 2020. This increase does not seem to be coming to an end for the time being since Microsoft also announced stronger-than-expected revenue guidance for the third quarter that runs from January till March 2021. In reaction to these announcements, the Microsoft stock moved to an all-time high level.