Earnings Preview: Microsoft expected to report higher Q3 revenue, profit

Tech behemoth Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is preparing to report its third-quarter 2025 results, amid expectations for a year-over-year increase in revenue and earnings. The company has performed well recently, leveraging its booming cloud business and rapidly expanding AI capabilities, seamlessly integrating the technology across its products and services.

What to Look for

Microsoft will report Q3 results on Wednesday, April 30, at 4:05 pm ET. Analysts following the software giant are bullish in their forecasts, with consensus estimates projecting a 10.6% increase in third-quarter revenue to $68.44 billion. On a per-share basis, net income is expected to rise about 10% YoY to $3.22.

Microsoft’s stock has traded below its 52-week average price for nearly three months. The last closing price is about 17% lower than the record highs of July 2024. The recent dip in price offers an opportunity to own this blue-chip stock which appears to have strong growth potential. Microsoft recently reclaimed its position as the world’s largest company, surpassing Apple, which lost significant market cap after the government imposed new import tariffs on China.

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella said during the Q2 2025 earnings call, “We continue to expand our data center capacity in line with both near-term and long-term demand signals. We have more than doubled our overall data center capacity in the last three years, and we have added more capacity last year than any other year in our history. Our data centers, networks, racks, and silicon are all coming together as a complete system to drive new efficiencies to power both the cloud workloads of today and the next-generation AI workloads.”

Strong Q2

For the second quarter, the company reported better-than-expected revenue, marking the eighth consecutive beat, while earnings exceeded estimates for the tenth consecutive quarter. Revenue totaled $69.6 billion in Q2, compared to $62.02 billion in the same period of 2024. The topline benefitted from strong performance by the Intelligent Cloud division. Net income increased to $24.11 billion or $3.23 per share in the December quarter from $21.87 billion or $2.93 per share in the previous year’s comparable period.

Microsoft’s long-term prospects remain strong, supported by its growing presence in the cloud market, giving tough competition to market leaders like Amazon Web Services. The mission-critical nature of its software products makes them indispensable for many organizations. Moreover, the company is less exposed to tariff-related trade tensions than tech peers like Apple and Nvidia.

After a modest start to the week, MSFT picked up strength and has maintained that momentum. On Friday, the shares traded lower in the early hours of the session.