Microsoft Corp. announces record sales under CEO Ballmer

In his last months at the position of Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corp.s, Steve Ballmer managed to deliver results even higher than expectations thanks to the increased interest of the companys customers towards game consoles and cloud software during the last quarter of 2013.

The company made a statement yesterday, reporting that its revenue increased by 14% and reached the record 24.5 billion dollars in the second quarter of the fiscal year, which ended on December the 31st 2013. The analysts estimates amounted to the average of 23.7 billion dollars in sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Chief Executive Officer Ballmer, who has announced that he plans to retire by August 2014, has managed to implement Microsoft Corp.s largest transition in more than ten years. Currently, the company, which is considered as the largest software manufacturer in the world, is in the middle of reorganization and is also working to finalize the acquisition of the handset unit of Nokia Oyj. During the holiday quarter, the company introduced its new Xbox One game machine, which helped it boost its sales of Web-based software.

One of the analysts working for UBS AG – Brent Thill, commented on Microsoft Corp.s situation for Bloomberg: “They continue to defy the skeptics. This company is outpacing every other large-cap enterprise company by miles. Theyre doing the right things. The last part of this is you have to get the right head coach.”

The companys net income for the second quarter increased by 2.8% to 6.56 billion dollars, which makes 78 cents a share. The analysts had forecast on average profit of 69 cents.

Amy Hood, who is the Chief Financial Officer of the company, announced that Microsofts commercial cloud programs sales more than doubled compared to the ones in the same quarter of 2012. Ms. Hood said in an interview, cited by Bloomberg: “We exceeded expectations in both the commercial unit and the devices and consumer segment and we saw improvements in areas where frankly we needed to get better.”

According to CNN Money, the current share price of Microsoft Corp. is 0.35% up, and its one-year return rate is 3.62% down. The 27 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Microsoft Corp. have a median target of 37.00, with a high estimate of 45.00 and a low estimate of 28.00. The median estimate represents a +2.62 increase from the last price of 36.06.