Microsoft Sales Miss Some Predictions

Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, reported third-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ most optimistic predictions, a sign that corporate customers may be putting off computer buying.

Sales rose 6.3 percent to $14.5 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates that were as high as $14.8 billion for the quarter that ended March 31. Shares fell in late trading.

While Microsoft’s Windows business has benefited from increased consumer demand for personal computers, corporations have hung back, avoiding purchases of new machines and long-term contracts. Investors held out for added evidence of a spending resurgence after chipmaker Intel Corp. last week forecast rising sales this quarter and record profit margins for 2010.

“Expectations were for more, given the strength we’ve seen in PC sales,” Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, said in an interview from Portland, Oregon. He rates the shares “outperform” and said he doesn’t own them.

Microsoft fell $1.02, or 3.3 percent, to $30.37 in extended trading after the report. The shares had risen 6 cents to $31.39 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock fell 3.9 percent last quarter, while the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index rose 4.9 percent.

Third-quarter net income rose 35 percent to $4.01 billion, or 45 cents a share, beating the average forecast of 42 cents in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Sales exceeded the $14.4 billion average in the survey, reflecting rising demand for Windows 7, the latest version of Microsoft’s flagship operating system.

Putting Off Orders

Still, some companies are reluctant to place orders that stretch over years. Unearned revenue, a measure of multiyear contracts, was $12.3 billion. Analysts’ average estimate was $12.8 billion, according to Katherine Egbert, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. In January, Microsoft reported second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates by 15 cents.

“The deferred revenue was lower than expected, suggesting that enterprise spending is still just beginning to recover,” said Sarah Friar, a San Francisco-based analyst for Goldman Sachs Group who has a “buy” rating on Microsoft. “Enterprise spending is still making its way out of the downturn.”

Microsoft said operating expenses for the year ending June 30 will be $26.1 billion to $26.3 billion, compared with a January prediction of $26.2 billion to $26.5 billion. Microsoft no longer provides forecasts for sales and profit.

Mixed Bag

“Consumer demand is still strong, but we also saw for the first time growth in business hardware spending,” said Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, in an interview. Yet, it’s still taking longer to close multiyear deals. The company did have growth in billings for multiyear agreements, he said. “We are starting to fill that pipeline,” he said. “I think it will resolve itself over time.”

In the third quarter a year ago, net income was $2.98 billion, or 33 cents a share, on sales of $13.6 billion.

Technology bellwethers reporting earnings in recent weeks have given a mixed picture of the rebound in technology spending. Oracle Corp., the second-biggest software maker behind Microsoft, last month forecast the fastest sales growth for new software licenses since mid-2008. Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, last week indicated that recovery may be gathering steam with a forecast for rising sales this quarter.

“People had thought there would be closer correlation between what Intel said about PC demand and PC outlook” and Microsoft’s results, said Sasa Zorovic, a Boston-based analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC. “That doesn’t seem to be the case.” He rates the shares “neutral.”

Office

Still, International Business Machines Corp. reported a drop in services signings, showing corporate spending on larger technology projects hasn’t picked up yet.

Microsoft Business Division revenue, mostly from Office productivity software, fell 5.9 percent to $4.24 billion as some customers held off purchases before Microsoft begins rolling out a new version next month. Server software sales were $3.58 billion, missing estimates from Goldman Sachs and UBS AG.

While sales of server computers have started to recover, it will take longer for sales of Microsoft’s related software to come back, Microsoft’s Klein said.

Information-technology spending will climb 1.7 percent in 2010, after dropping 3.1 percent last year, according to an estimate from Morgan Stanley. Personal-computer shipments rose 27 percent last quarter, according to Gartner Inc. The PC market bounced back from the year-earlier period, when the recession dragged down shipments almost 7 percent -- the worst performance since 2001, according to market research firm IDC.

Business, Bing

Revenue in Microsoft’s Business Division was reduced as the company deferred some sales to a future quarter. The company gave customers who have purchased older versions of Office the right to upgrade to the new version, Office 2010, which is available to businesses next month. It hits stores in June.

Online advertising revenue rose 19 percent as search and graphical display ad markets recovered, Klein said. Sales in the company’s online business rose 11.6 percent to $566 million.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has increased the company’s share of searches by 3.7 percentage points since Microsoft overhauled the product in June, according to research firm ComScore Inc. Microsoft had 11.7 percent of the U.S. search market in March, compared with 65.1 percent for Google Inc. and 16.9 percent for Yahoo! Inc., according to ComScore.