share to the tablets," said Josh Olson
Cheap Jerseys , technology analyst at money manager Edward Jones. "Microsoft is really a show-me story in terms of its ability to extend its core flagship products to these new growth platforms."
Microsoft is expected to enter the tablet market in earnest next year with the launch of its next operating system -- code-named Windows 8 -- which will be compatible with the low-power chips designed by ARM Holdings favored by tablet and mobile phone makers.
BIG BEAT
The Redmond, Washington-based company on Thursday posted net profit of $5.87 billion, or 69 cents per share, up from $4.52 billion, or 51 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
That easily beat Wall Street's average estimate of 58 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Microsoft has beaten the average profit estimate for each of the last nine quarters.
Microsoft was helped by an unusually low tax rate of 7 percent in the quarter, which cut its tax bill by more than $1 billion from the year before, to $445 million. The company, which gets most of its revenue from overseas, said the savings were due to a one-time tax gain and more business flowing through its regional centers in the low-tax jurisdictions of Ireland
Cheap Jerseys , Singapore and Puerto Rico.
Sales rose 8 percent to $17.37 billion
Cheap Jerseys , ahead of analysts' average estimate of $17.23 billion
Cheap Jerseys , boosted chiefly by sales of Office, Xbox and server software behind Microsoft's push into Internet-centric, or "cloud" computing.
Microsoft shares fluctuated after the results were announced in after-hours trading, settling close to their closing price of $27.09 on Nasdaq. The stock is up 8 percent over the past 12 months, compared to a 30 percent rise in the Nasdaq composite index. The shares are stuck at a level first hit in 1998, adjusted for stock splits.
"These numbers are good. The question is
Cheap Basketball Uniforms according tothe exchange's weekly report, what will make Microsoft break this range in which it is stuck, between $25 and $28?" said Trip Chowdhry, managing director at Global Equities Researc