Microsoft plunges despite Q2 results beating estimates
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) said second-quarter earnings were better than expected, as revenue from cloud computing, largely tied to Azure, rose 32% year-over-year to $22.1 billion.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft (MSFT) said it earned $2.48 a share on $51.7 billion in revenue, up 20% year-over-year.

The consensus from Wall Street analysts called for Microsoft to earn $2.32 per share on $50.78 billion in revenue, up 17.9% year-over-year.
Azure, which has been a focal point for investors, saw revenue rise 46% year-over-year, though Microsoft did not break it down in dollar terms.
Microsoft revenue from Productivity and Business Processes was $15.9 billion, up 19% year-over-year, aided by Office 365, which now has 56.4 million subscribers. Revenue from Intelligent Cloud was $18.3 billion, up 26% year-over-year, while More Personal Computing, which includes Windows, rose 15% year-over-year to $17.5 billion.
Following the results, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said the results were "good enough," with strong Azure growth, though the 46% rise was below some bullish estimates of 48% growth.
"We would be buyers on this modest sell off as we believe the underlying metrics and implied growth trajectory into the rest of 2022 is strong for MSFT," Ives wrote in a note. "In this jittery market we will see every tech print initially viewed as glass half empty, but ultimately this remains a core cloud name to own and we believe is in oversold territory."
Microsoft (MSFT) shares are falling in after-hours trading to $275.78, down more than 4%.
During the quarter, Microsoft returned $10.9 billion to shareholders in buybacks and dividends during the quarter, up 9% year-over-year.
The company will host a conference call at 5 p.m. EST to discuss the results.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it is buying Activision (NASDAQ:ATVI) for $68.7 billion in one of its biggest moves it has ever made in the video game market, with the deal expected to close in 2023.