Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bellevue, Wash, on Nov. 30, 2016.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Wall Street analysts had high praise for Microsoft’s fiscal first-quarter earnings report, both from an earnings perspective and the performance of some segments, including the company’s Azure cloud unit and the anticipated rollout of Microsoft’s A.I. product Copilot.
Microsoft shares rose around 4% in Wednesday morning trading.
The company reported on Tuesday earnings per share of $2.99, beating an LSEG consensus estimate of $2.65. The company also beat revenue consensus among analysts surveyed by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. Microsoft reported revenue of $56.52 billion for the quarter, compared to a consensus estimate of $54.50 billion.
Analysts heralded strong revenue growth and “consistent” execution. “We reiterate our Buy rating,” Deutsche Bank analyst Brad Zelnick said in a report to clients Wednesday morning, citing “results that overachieved on just about every possible measure.” Zelnick raised his price target from $380 to $395, adding that “operating discipline” and “a full-stack approach to delivering AI solutions” was just as, if not more impressive, than Microsoft’s revenue beat.
Zelnick also noted that “all eyes” would be on the full launch of Microsoft’s 365 Copilot artificial intelligence service in November, with Zelnick calling it “the most anticipated new product we have ever seen released in our long time covering the Software industry.
Barclays analyst Raimo Lenschow wrote that Microsoft’s first quarter results were “as good as it can get,” but trimmed his price target slightly from $425 to $421, citing the impact that higher capital expenditures would have on Microsoft’s estimated free cash flow.
Second-half growth in Azure “will likely serve as the main discussion point given the growing AI contribution” to that unit, Lenschow wrote. Azure is part of Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment, and reported revenue of $24.26 billion, up 19% year-over-year and stronger than the StreetAccount analyst consensus of $23.49 billion. Azure revenue alone, which Microsoft doesn’t disclose in dollars, grew 29% during the quarter.
Comments from Microsoft executives helped boost analyst sentiment as well, with CFO Amy Hood saying on a Tuesday call with analysts, “We feel good about our execution, we feel good about taking share and we feel good about consistent trends.”
CNBC’s Jordan Novet and Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
The logo of LG Electronics is seen on the opening day of the Integrated Systems Europe exhibition in Barcelona on January 31, 2023.
Pau Barrena | Afp | Getty Images
South Korea-based LG Energy Solution announced Wednesday that it had signed a $4.3 billion contract for supplying batteries to a major corporation, without naming the customer.
The effective date of contract — receipt of orders — began Tuesday and will conclude at the end of July, 2030. During this period, the counterparty will not be disclosed to maintain business confidentiality, the company’s filing with the Korea Exchange showed Wednesday.Reuters reported that Tesla was the counterparty.
Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that the EV maker was behind a previously undisclosed $16.5 billion chip contract with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.
LG Energy said in its filing that details of the contract such as the deal amount were subject to change and the contract period could be extended by up to seven years.
“Investors are advised to carefully consider the possibility of changes or termination of the contract when making investment decisions,” the company cautioned. It’s shares were trading 0.26% lower.
The filing did not clarify whether the lithium iron phosphate batteries would be used in vehicles or energy storage systems. Its major battery customers include American electric-vehicle makers Tesla and General Motors.
The company has been expanding its battery production in the U.S., and is constructing a plant in Arizona that will produce lithium iron phosphate batteries.
LG Energy Solution and Tesla did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, looks on during the closing bell at the Nasdaq Market in New York City, U.S., March 25, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
CyberArk shares soared as much as 18% on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that cybersecurity provider Palo Alto Networks has held discussions to buy the identity management software maker for over $20 billion.
Cloud security is becoming an increasingly critical piece of the enterprise tech stack, especially as rapid advancements in artificial intelligence bring with them a whole new set of threats, and as ransomware attacks become more commonplace.
Founded in 2005, Palo Alto Networks has emerged in recent years as a consolidator in the cybersecurity industry and has grown into the biggest player in the space by market cap, with a valuation of over $130 billion. CEO Nikesh Arora, who was appointed to the job in 2018, has been on a spending spree, snapping up Protect AI in a deal that closed in July, and in 2023 buying Talon Cyber Security, Dig Security and Zycada Networks.
But CyberArk would represent by far Arora’s biggest bet yet. The Israeli company, which went public in 2014, provides technology that helps companies streamline the process of logging on to applications for employees.
CyberArk faces competition from Microsoft, Okta and IBM‘s HashiCorp. Another rival, SailPoint, returned to the public markets in February.
With Tuesday’s rally, CyberArk shares climbed to a record, surpassing their prior all-time high reached in February. The stock is up 29% this year, pushing the company’s market cap to almost $21 billion, after jumping 52% in 2024. Palo Alto shares, meanwhile, slid 3.5% on the report and are now up about 9% for the year.
Representatives from Palo Alto Networks and CyberArk declined to comment.
During the first quarter, CyberArk generated around $11.5 million in net income on around $318 million in revenue, which was up 43% from a year earlier.
It’s been an active stretch for big deals in the cyber market. Google said in March that it was spending $32 billion on Wiz, its largest acquisition on record by far, and a purchase intended to bolster its cloud business with greater AI security technology.
Networking giant Cisco also made its biggest deal ever in the security space, buying Splunk in 2023 for $28 billion. Splunk’s technology helps businesses monitor and analyze their data to minimize the risk of hacks and resolve technical issues faster.
Spotify shares dropped about 4% Tuesday after the music streaming platform fell short of Wall Street’s expectations and posted weak guidance for the current quarter.
Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:
Loss: Loss of .42 euros vs earnings of 1.90 euros per share expected
Revenue: 4.19 billion euros vs. 4.26 billion expected
The Sweden-based music platform’s revenues rose 10% from about 3.81 billion euros in the year-ago period. The company posted a net loss of 86 million euros, or a loss of .42 euros per share, down from net income of 225 million euros, or 1.10 euros per share a year ago.
Third-quarter guidance came up short of Wall Street’s forecast.
The company expects revenues to reach 4.2 billion euros, compared to a 4.47 billion euro estimate from StreetAccount. Spotify said the forecast accounts for a 490-basis-point headwind due to foreign exchange rates.
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Monthly active users on the platform jumped 11% to 696 million, while paying subscribers rose 12% from a year ago to 276 million.
For the current quarter, Spotify said it expects to reach 710 million monthly active users, with 14 million net adds. The company expects 5 million net new premium subscribers in the third quarter to reach 281 million subscriptions.
During the period, Spotify said it rolled out a request feature for its artificial intelligence DJ. The company said engagement with the offering has roughly doubled over the last year.
In 2024, Spotify posted its first full year of profitability. Shares are up 57% this year.