Microsoft Corp.’s revenues rose 5 percent in its third quarter, while its net income sprang from $1.32 billion in the same quarter last year to a major $2.56 billion. The news pushed the company’s stock up slightly to $24.89 per share.
In the company’s mobile and embedded devices division-which includes sales of its Smartphone and Pocket PC operating systems-Microsoft recorded a shrinking loss on increasing revenues. The division hopped with revenues of $80 million on a net loss of $8 million in its third quarter. In the same quarter a year ago, Microsoft recorded revenues of $61 million on a net loss of $36 million. Microsoft has two loss-making divisions: its mobile and embedded devices business and its home and entertainment operations.
Microsoft said it saw “strong demand” for its mobile and embedded devices products. The company said Windows Mobile license sales doubled over prior year levels and boasted that there are 380,000 active Windows Mobile professional developers and more than 18,000 Windows Mobile applications.
“Despite a mixed enterprise software environment, the quarter played out largely as we expected, and operating income and earnings per share results were in line with our expectations,” said Scott Di Valerio, Microsoft’s corporate vice president and corporate controller. “Given our optimism about the future with our strong product pipeline and the growth opportunities from our investments in innovative products and services, we expect increased revenue growth in fiscal 2006.”
