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SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest software maker, reported a higher quarterly net profit on Thursday, boosted in part by strong sales of its business management and its database software.
Microsoft posted a net profit of $2.98 billion, or 29 cents per share, in its fiscal third quarter ended March 31, compared to $2.56 billion, or 28 cents per diluted share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 13 percent to $10.9 billion.
Excluding legal charges, Microsoft earned 32 cents a share. Analysts, on average, had forecast net earnings per share of 33 cents per share on revenue of $11.04 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
Last month, the company pushed back the retail delivery for the new version of its Windows operating system, Vista, and business software suite Office 2007 until January 2007. Analysts expect PC demand to soften in the coming quarters ahead of the upgrades.
Since the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings on January 26, the stock has risen 3 percent, broadly in line with gains on the S&P 500. Prior to the earnings release, the stock closed up 15 cents at $27.25 in Thursday Nasdaq trade.
