Will Azure push Microsoft's Q3 earnings higher and set the stage for other tech companies?
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The week's earnings box opens with the tech giants - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple - which are needed to report strong numbers as the same would give a direction to the tech stocks path in the coming months as Wedbush Securities believes.

Microsoft is scheduled to announce Q3 earnings results on Tuesday, April 26th, after market close.
Quick look at company's profitability grade and underlying metrics:



The consensus EPS Estimate is $2.20 (+12.73% Y/Y) and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $49.05B (+17.61% Y/Y).
In Office 365, healthy revenue growth is likely to be driven by the same factors as Q2 with similar seat growth across customer segments and continued momentum in E5. In Dynamics, the company expects revenue growth in the mid-20% range driven by strength in Dynamics 365. In Gaming, revenue growth is seen in the mid-single digits.
For Intelligent Cloud, the company expects revenue between $18.75 and $19B, to be driven by Azure consumption business.



Over the last 2 years, MSFT has beaten EPS estimates 75% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 88% of the time.
Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates have seen 17 upward revisions and 10 downward. Revenue estimates have seen 27 upward revisions and 2 downward.
A Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat Analysis for the Microsoft's earnings:



SPGlobal cites a Morgan Stanley survey of about 100 chief information officers across the U.S. and Europe who found that 42% of respondents expect Microsoft to gain the largest IT share as a result of a shift to the cloud, followed by Amazon at a distant No. 2 at 17%; 43% of respondents expect Microsoft to maintain its lead over the next three years.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says, "We believe large transformational cloud deals at MSFT are up north of 50% with clear momentum in 2022 and also some incremental share gains from AWS could be in the cards."
Recent earnings Analysis from our contributors:


One Way To Play Microsoft Earnings
Microsoft Q3 Earnings: What To Watch And What To Ignore