Updating MICROSOFT CORP. and TENNANT CO.

Article Excerpt

MICROSOFT CORP. $32 (www.microsoft.com) earned $0.65 a share in the three months ended March 31, 2013, up 8.3% from $0.60 a year earlier. Revenue rose 17.7%, to $20.5 billion from $17.4 billion. Slow personal computer sales have hurt revenue from its Windows operating system. However, the company continues to enjoy strong demand for software that powers corporate servers. Revenue at its online division, which includes the Bing Internet search engine, is also rising. Best Buy. TENNANT CO. $47 (www.tennantco.com) reported that its sales fell 3.2% in the first quarter of 2013, to $168.1 million from $173.1 million a year earlier. That’s mainly due to slowing sales of its street-cleaning equipment to cities in Europe. Sales to clients in Asia also declined, because the company completed an unusually large order to customers in China in the year-earlier quarter. However, earnings per share rose 3.6%, to $0.29 from $0.28. Tennant also spent 4.5% of its sales on research, up from 4.2%. Buy…