Here's what the Big Tech Stalwart posted yesterday:

Adjusted earnings of $2.32 per share, vs. $2.29 per share expected. Revenue came in at $52.75 billion, vs. $52.94 billion as expected by analysts. Microsoft called for $50.5 billion to $51.5 billion in fiscal Q3 revenue, which translated into 3% implied growth, while consensus forecast had expected $52.43 billion. The company's intelligent cloud business revenue of $21.51 billion beat the average estimate of $21.43 billion. The company's intelligent cloud business revenue of $21.51 billion, nevertheless, beat the average estimate of $21.43 billion. MSFT top managers believe that the PC market will contract again, which should lead to a roughly 17% YoY decline in the More Personal Computing business segment that features Windows packs.

As we expected, Microsoft cloud solutions can’t keep up with their former expansion rates because of numerous technical imperfections, that already were addressed by most of its competitors such as Google-Alphabet, Oracle and Amazon. Microsoft's Azure cloud growth slowed to 31%, barely beating projections. Management called for $50.5 billion to $51.5 billion in revenue for the next quarter, while analysts expected over $52 billion, with Azure growth slowing further. The software maker took a $1.2 billion charge in the quarter in connection with its decision to eliminate 10,000 employees, revise its hardware lineup and consolidate leases.

Business weakened in December, including in growth of consumption of Azure cloud services, Hood said on the call. During that month, growth in new business was lower than management had expected for Microsoft 365 productivity software subscriptions, Windows Commercial products and Enterprise Mobility and Security offerings.

For the fiscal Q2 (not coinciding with calendar quarters in Microsoft’s reporting), total revenue increased by 2% YoY in the quarter ending Dec. 31, representing the slowest rate since 2016. Net income fell to $16.43 billion from $18.77 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company took a $1.2 billion charge in the quarter related to severance pay packages (the charge included $800 million in employee severance costs), earmarked for 10,000 redundant jobs, as well as revision of its hardware lineup and consolidation of leases.