Microsoft beats Q4 earnings on Azure growth; stock up 8% after-hours

Microsoft closed trading on Wednesday after reporting Q4 2026 earnings for the period ending June 30, with results that exceeded expectations across multiple measures. Revenue reached $90 billion（約14兆円）, up 18% year-over-year and beating the consensus expectation of $87.6 billion（約14兆円）. Operating income also grew 18% year-over-year to $40.6 billion（約6.5兆円）. The headline earnings figure—adjusted earnings per share of $4.74 per share—beat consensus of $4.24 by 31%.

The earnings were bolstered in part by special items: $0.27 per share of the EPS beat came from special items, including a $3.2 billion（約5100億円） gain from Microsoft's investment in AI company Anthropic. Even stripping out these one-time items, however, Microsoft's EPS would have been $4.47 per share, still up 15.8% year-over-year and above consensus expectations. CFO Amy Hood characterized the result as "a strong quarter to close out the fiscal year."

Cloud growth was a standout. Azure and other cloud services revenue jumped 43% year-over-year, reflecting strong customer adoption of AI capabilities. The broader Intelligent Cloud segment, which includes Azure, posted revenue growth of 32% to $39.3 billion（約6.3兆円）. Azure has historically held the position of second-most-used cloud computing platform globally, behind Amazon Web Services but ahead of Google Cloud Services. Both AWS and Google Cloud have recently reported accelerating growth tied to customer use of AI features; Microsoft's Azure results suggest it too is capturing this trend.

Microsoft's capex strategy drew particular investor attention. The company's quarterly capex reached $35.8 billion（約5.7兆円）, more than double the year-ago quarter's $17.1 billion（約2.7兆円）. However, Microsoft announced it would keep its forecast for total calendar year 2026 capex unchanged at $175 billion（約28兆円） following an accounting change. This contrasted sharply with recent moves by competitors: Alphabet raised its capital expenditure forecast after Q2 earnings, largely due to increased spending on AI infrastructure, and Meta narrowed its 2026 capex guidance toward the higher end of its previously announced range—both moves that prompted investor skepticism about capex payoff. Investors rewarded Microsoft's spending discipline by sending shares up 8% in after-hours trading.

Microsoft shares remain down more than 15% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500 as well as cloud rivals Alphabet and Amazon. The stock's forward price-to-earnings ratio has fallen from 30 to 20. On the basis of Azure's strong revenue growth and management's apparent ability to constrain AI spending growth, observers concluded the stock appeared attractively valued.

Microsoft's Q4 results arrive at a moment when investor confidence in Big Tech's AI spending strategy is being tested. Alphabet and Meta have both signaled that the capex required to build out AI infrastructure will remain elevated, prompting market concerns about whether the return on investment justifies the near-term cash outlay. Microsoft's decision to hold its full-year capex guidance steady—even as quarterly capex doubled to $35.8 billion（約5.7兆円）—suggests the company believes it has found a sustainable level of AI infrastructure investment. This messaging appears to have resonated with investors, who sent the stock up 8% in after-hours trading.

The real driver of confidence, however, is Azure's performance. The 43% year-over-year growth in Azure and related cloud services revenue indicates that Microsoft is not just spending heavily on AI infrastructure; it is converting that spending into revenue growth. The broader Intelligent Cloud segment's 32% revenue growth to $39.3 billion（約6.3兆円） shows that Azure is outpacing the company's other businesses and benefiting from customer demand for AI capabilities. This contrasts with the market's anxiety about capex-heavy competitors and suggests Microsoft has better visibility into monetizing its AI investments.

Despite the strong quarter, Microsoft shares remain down more than 15% over the past year, and the forward price-to-earnings ratio has compressed to 20 from a prior 30. This valuation reset, combined with evidence of both strong AI-driven revenue growth and spending discipline, has led observers to view the stock as attractively valued—particularly relative to peers still working through uncertainty about capex payoff.

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