Microsoft Q1 profit hits $2.6 billion Software giant beats Wall Street profit, sales forecasts By Rex Crum, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 4:37 PM ET Oct. 23, 2003 Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) net income came in at 24 cents a share, which included $680 million in after-tax equity compensation. Excluding those charges, Microsoft earned 30 cents a share to beat the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call who had forecast 29 cents a share.
Revenue totaled $8.22 billion and topped analysts' estimates of $8.1 billion.
During the same period a year ago, Microsoft reported a net profit of $2.04 billion, or 19 cents a share, on sales of $7.75 billion.
Going forward, Microsoft said it expects to report second-quarter earnings, excluding one-time items for equity compensation, to be 29 cents to 30 cents a share, with revenue between $9.7 billion and $9.8 billion. Analysts had forecast a profit of 28 cents a share on sales of about $9.3 billion.
Rex Crum
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