Online renewals pay off for Microsoft

Article Excerpt

MICROSOFT CORP. $89 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 7.7 billion; Market cap: $685.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 7.2; Dividend yield: 1.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average) continues to benefit from its shift to selling its software as online subscriptions. In the fiscal 2018 second quarter, ended December 31, 2017, revenue rose 12.0%, to $28.9 billion from $25.8 billion a year earlier. Revenue for the company’s Intelligent Cloud segment jumped 15.3%; revenue for its Productivity and Business Processes business, rose even higher, to 24.7%. That unit includes Microsoft’s Office suite of business programs. The company lost $6.3 billion, or $0.82 a share, in the quarter. The decline is due to a $13.8 billion charge stemming from new U.S. tax rules. Without that item, earnings per share rose 20.0%, to $0.96 from $0.80. Microsoft is a buy. buy…