Moment of Truth: Microsoft's Q4, FY09 Earnings To Come on Thursday

Microsoft reports its financial results for the quarter on Thursday, and Wall Street analysts are looking for drops in earnings per share and revenues compared to the year-ago period.

An average of analyst forecasts calculated by Thomson Reuters shows an expectation that Microsoft will post earnings of 36 cents a share on $14.38 billion in revenue. During the same quarter last year, Microsoft earned 46 cents a share on $15.84 billion in revenue. Microsoft on Thursday will also report its results for the full fiscal year that ended June 30.

It will be interesting to hear Microsoft's forecast for PC demand for fiscal year 2010, which runs from July 2009 to June 2010. A drop in PC demand has taken the wind out of Microsoft's Windows and Office revenues during this last fiscal year. Some technology analysts are expecting a slight pick-up in PC demand, based on moderating declines in the first half of this year. From Microsoft's perspective, that pickup is offset by an increasing demand for netbooks, which sell with lower-margin editions of Windows.

Posted by Scott Bekker on July 20, 2009 at 11:58 AM