Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the Microsoft AI Tour event in Munich, Germany on February 25, 2026.
Sven Hoppe | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
microsoft is scheduled to announce its third-quarter financial results after the close of regular trading on Wednesday.
According to LSEG, here’s what analysts are looking for:
Earnings per share: Adjusted $4.06 Revenue: $81.39 billion
Microsoft’s stock price is coming off its worst quarter since 2008, driven in part by market-wide concerns that artificial intelligence will overwhelm its software, and the company’s own concerns that its massive AI investments won’t produce the desired results.
Still, Microsoft continues to see consistent growth and is expected to report a 16% increase in revenue for the period ending March 31, up from $70.1 billion in the same period last year.
In addition to providing access to leading AI models via its Azure cloud infrastructure, Microsoft is incorporating Copilot technology into its suite of productivity apps. The company uses Copilot to support Anthropic, OpenAI, google Everyone is playing.
On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella touted the “biggest rollout yet” of 365 Copilot, a commercial AI add-on for productivity software subscriptions, after Accenture agreed to buy licenses for 740,000 employees.
“We believe additional data points regarding M365 Copilot adoption/monetization will be received constructively by investors,” analyst Piper Sandler, who recommends buying Microsoft stock, said in a note to clients last week.
Investors will particularly pay attention to comments regarding data center spending. Microsoft, like competing hyperscalers, is pouring money into AI chips and systems to meet the surge in demand for computing access so that companies can build and access AI models and services. Analysts expect capital expenditures and assets acquired under finance leases to be $34.9 billion, an increase of 63% from a year ago.
Google’s parent company Alphabet will also report results on Wednesday. Amazon and meta. The four tech giants are expected to spend well over $600 billion in combined capital spending this year, and Wall Street will hear from them for the first time since the outbreak of the U.S.-Iran war that sent oil prices soaring and disrupted global supply chains.
Microsoft has been dealing with significant departures of high-level executives.
During the quarter, our most senior leader in Office software, Rajesh Jha, announced plans to retire, as did our head of gaming, Phil Spencer.
Microsoft executives will discuss the results with analysts and provide guidance on a conference call beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
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