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Microsoft Upbeat on Revenue Growth for 2006

For some Microsoft investors, the latest quarterly results were either up or down, given one's perspective. The company on Thursday offered investors a 5 percent rise in revenue to $9.62 billion for the quarter ended March 31 over the same quarter a year ago. But that figure was down by more than $1 billion when compared with the results posted in December.

Operating income for this, the third quarter of Microsoft Corp.'s financial year, came in at $3.33 billion, which was more than double the $1.28 billion in the year-ago quarter, largely as a result of a sharp fall in legal charges.

As a result, net income nearly doubled to $2.56 billion, and diluted earnings per share for the third quarter came in at 23 cents per share, which included 5 cents per share in legal charges.

Microsoft also repurchased more than 95 million shares of common stock for $2.42 billion during the quarter, which helped push total share repurchases so far this fiscal year higher than for all of fiscal year 2004.

Management expects revenue of $43.3 billion to $44.1 billion for the full fiscal year ending June 30, with operating income of $18.3 billion to $18.9 billion, including stock-based compensation expenses. Diluted earnings per share would be in the range of $1.26 to $1.30, including stock-based compensation expense.

source: eweek

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