Microsoft’s MSFT third-quarter fiscal 2022 results, scheduled to be reported on Ap 26, are likely to have been driven by the continued strength in its cloud platform — Azure. The platform has been benefiting from the pandemic-led digital transformation across the globe.
For the fiscal third quarter, Microsoft expects Intelligent Cloud revenues (Azure falls under the segment) between $18.75 billion and $19 billion. Azure’s revenue growth is likely to reflect continued strength in consumption-based services.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Intelligent Cloud segment revenues is currently pegged at $18.82 billion, indicating growth of 24.9% from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Click here to know how Microsoft’s overall fiscal third-quarter performance is expected to have been.
Microsoft Corporation Revenue (TTM) 
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Azure to Drive Top-Line Growth
The increasing migration of workloads to the cloud is fueling demand for cloud infrastructure monitoring, web-based application performance management and human capital management solutions. This is driving demand for Microsoft’s cloud service.
Azure’s increased availability in more than 60 announced regions worldwide is anticipated to have bolstered its cloud business and strengthened its competitive position against Amazon’s AMZN Amazon Web Services and Alphabet’s GOOGL Google Cloud.
In the last-reported quarter, Amazon’s AWS revenues (13% of total company sales) rose 40% year over year to $17.8 billion. The expansion of its AWS services portfolio is helping Amazon maintain its dominance in the cloud domain by gaining more customers.
Meanwhile, in fourth-quarter 2021, Alphabet recorded a 44.6% year-over-year jump in Google Cloud revenues to $5.5 billion, which contributed 7.4% to quarterly revenues.
Microsoft reported a 46% year-over-year increase in Azure and other cloud services’ revenues in second-quarter fiscal 2022. The upside was driven by robust growth in consumption-based businesses.
Healthcare Moves Noteworthy
Microsoft has been taking initiatives to boost its presence in the healthcare space. The pandemic is driving the digital transformation of the healthcare system.
This Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) stock is striving to gain more opportunities presented by the rapid digitalization of the healthcare industry.
In the to-be-reported quarter, Microsoft announced general availability of Azure Health Data Services and updates to Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.
Microsoft Cloud for healthcare solutions is helping healthcare providers enhance patient engagement and clinician experiences, empower health team collaboration, and improve clinical and operational insights.
Key Q3 Developments
During the to-be-reported quarter, Microsft and Rogers Communications RCI announced a five-year strategic alliance to help enterprise and small and medium business customers accelerate their digitization process.
Rogers, along with its own 5G network, will leverage Microsoft Azure’s public cloud capabilities to power innovation, providing customers with new experiences, and enabling employees to collaborate with more agility across the organization. This will help organizations take complete advantage of hybrid work and 5G-enabled solutions.
Microsoft also completed the acquisition of Nuance Communications, a leader in conversational AI and ambient intelligence across industries like healthcare, financial services, retail and telecommunications in fiscal third quarter.
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