Why Microsoft Stock Is Skyrocketing Today

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock is shooting higher in Thursday's trading after the company published strong quarterly results. The tech giant's company's share price was up 9.2% as of 12:15 a.m. ET and had been up as much as 10.6% earlier in the session.

After the market closed yesterday, Microsoft released results for the third quarter of its current fiscal year, which ended March 31. The company posted better-than-expected sales and earnings, driven by impressive growth for its Azure cloud infrastructure business, and issued encouraging forward guidance.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Microsoft stock surges on strong Q3 results

In fiscal Q3, Microsoft posted earnings per share of $3.46 on sales of $70.06 billion. For comparison, the average analyst estimate had called for the business to report per-share earnings of $3.22 on sales of $68.44 billion.

Overall revenue for the period was up roughly 13% year over year, with a big performance beat relative to expectations, driven by sales for the intelligent cloud segment rising 21% year over year to reach $26.8 billion. Within the segment, revenue for Azure and other services was up 33% year over year. Meanwhile, sales for the productivity and business processes segment rose 10% to $29.9 billion, and the more personal computing segment grew sales 6% year over year to hit $13.4 billion.

What's next for Microsoft?

Microsoft paired its Q3 sales and earnings beats with a strong outlook for fiscal Q4. Management expects sales to come in between $73.15 billion and $74.25 billion this quarter -- good for growth of roughly 14% year over year at the midpoint of the guidance range. Heading into yesterday's earnings report, the average analyst estimate had called for the business to post sales of $72.26 billion in the period.

Crucially, Intelligent Cloud segment revenue is projected to come in between $28.75 billion and $29.05 billion -- representing annual growth of 21% at the midpoint. Sales from Azure are projected to be up between 34% and 35% in the quarter. Strong guidance for the cloud segment suggests that Microsoft is continuing to see big tailwinds from artificial intelligence (AI), and the performance targets are helping to allay investor concerns that momentum was fading on that front.

Should you invest $1,000 in Microsoft right now?

Before you buy stock in Microsoft, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Microsoft wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $610,327!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $667,581!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 882% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 161% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025

Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.