Microsoft reported revenue of $92.3 billion for its fiscal first quarter, which ended September 30, 2026, the company said on Wednesday, October 28. That was up 19 percent from a year earlier and marked the company's 10th consecutive quarter of record revenue, according to TechCrunch. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab); Calcalist (opens in a new tab))

The result came in above Wall Street's expectations. Analysts polled by LSEG had forecast about $90.69 billion in revenue, Calcalist reported. Adjusted earnings per share were $4.89, compared with the $4.73 analysts expected, a figure that excludes the effect of Microsoft's investments in OpenAI. Net income rose 32 percent to $36.6 billion on a GAAP basis, according to TechCrunch. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab); Calcalist (opens in a new tab))

Azure growth picks up

Azure, the company's cloud computing platform, generated $33.17 billion in revenue, an increase of 48 percent from a year earlier. Growth accelerated from 42 percent in the previous quarter and beat analyst estimates, according to Calcalist. TechCrunch noted that not all Azure revenue is tied to AI. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab); Calcalist (opens in a new tab))

The broader Microsoft Cloud business brought in $63.9 billion, up 30 percent, and Microsoft 365 contributed nearly $28 billion, TechCrunch reported. Microsoft also reported $10 billion in revenue from OpenAI. TechCrunch noted that OpenAI still runs many of its services on Microsoft's cloud even though it also uses Amazon Web Services, Oracle and other providers, and that Anthropic runs on Azure as well. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab))

Commercial remaining performance obligation, a measure of contracted revenue that has not yet been recognized, rose 73 percent to $677 billion, according to TechCrunch. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab))

Record spending and weaker cash flow

Capital expenditures, including finance leases, totaled $45.2 billion in the quarter, an all-time quarterly record for the company. Calcalist reported that the figure was up about 30 percent from a year earlier but below the $50.67 billion that analysts surveyed by StreetAccount had projected. Free cash flow fell 27 percent to $18.63 billion. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab); Calcalist (opens in a new tab))

Not every part of the business grew. Revenue in Devices and Consumer was $15.5 billion, down 3 percent, and Windows OEM and devices revenue fell 22 percent from a year earlier, according to TechCrunch. Microsoft has reorganized its reporting into two segments, Agents and Infra, and Devices and Consumer. (TechCrunch (opens in a new tab))

Investors responded positively. Microsoft shares rose about 5 percent in extended trading after the results were released, Calcalist reported. (Calcalist (opens in a new tab))

In NeuraFeed's reading, the quarter shows the two sides of the AI build out at Microsoft. Cloud demand is growing faster than it was three months ago, and contracted future revenue is far larger than a year ago, which suggests customers are committing to long term AI workloads. At the same time, record capital spending is pulling down free cash flow, so the company is still paying heavily up front for capacity that will be earned back over years. The size of the OpenAI figure also shows how closely Microsoft's results remain tied to a single partner.