Updated: July 12, 2020 (August 4, 2008)

  Analyst Report

Five Businesses Plan for FY'09

My Atlas / Analyst Reports

2,452 wordsTime to read: 13 min

Coming off one of their best fiscal years in recent history, Microsoft executives at the company’s annual Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) expressed regret that the company’s financial performance had not helped the company’s stock price, primarily because of increasing expenses and strategic upheavals related to the company’s online strategy. However, CEO Steve Ballmer forecast continued spending on the consumer online strategy, creating potential opportunities for partners who can supply critical technology or aid marketing. Rehabilitating Vista’s image, helping customers deploy business software, and promoting its virtualization technologies will be the company’s other top priorities in the year ahead.

A Great Year, Except for One Thing

Microsoft’s 2008 fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2008, was outstanding financially. Revenue grew 18% to more than US$60.4 billion—remarkable growth for a company of Microsoft’s size. The company saw a continuing acceleration in growth over FY’07 (15%), FY’06 (11%), and FY’05 (8%). Five percentage points ahead of Microsoft’s top predictions from last year’s FAM, this revenue growth translated to 21% growth in operating income and 26% growth in earnings per share, which shows that the company did a good job of keeping expenses under control.

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