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Analsys & Opinion My Shout Microsoft knows Windows and Office can't deliver growth
Analsys & Opinion My Shout Microsoft knows Windows and Office can't deliver growth | Microsoft knows Windows and Office can't deliver growth |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Saturday, 29 April 2006 | |
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A plan to increase spending on services, including advertising funded web services, and a frantic push to get its loss making Xbox 360 consoles into the hands of consumers, comes in a year when Microsoft is about to launch new versions of its core money-spinning software products Windows and Office. This appears to indicate that the company no longer has confidence that sales of either Vista or Office 2007 will generate the sort of growth that the company has been able to achieve in past years. 
In a conference call on Thursday, CFO Chris Liddell outlined plans to
spend $2 billion more on fast growth area investments, sacrificing
earnings growth in the short term for a hoped for long term pay-off. As
a result, Microsoft's earnings guidance for 2007 of $1.36 to $1.41 per
share came in well below the market's expectation of around $1.53 as
previously proposed by analysts.Microsoft has forecast revenue for 2007 of $49.5 billion to $50.5 billion, which would be a return to double digit revenue growth after a meagre 8% growth in 2005. However, most of the revenue growth for the first three quarters of 2006 has been from the unprofitable Home Entertainment and Business Solutions segments, as well as the profitable Windows Server segment. Meanwhile revenue and earnings growth in by far the two largest and most profitable business segments Client (which includes Windows) and Information Worker (which includes Office) have been meagre. For the first three quarters of 2006, Client revenue grew by a modest 7.6%, while Information Worker growth was a flat 4.8%. Earnings growth was even less impressive with Client operating earnings for the nine months growing a mere 5.8%, while Information Worker earnings practically stalled with just a 2% increase. Together Information Worker and Client (that is Windows and Office) comprise the lion's share of profits for Microsoft and more than half of its revenues, the only other significant contributor being the Server and Tools segment. The segments containing Windows and Office have contributed revenues of $18.456 billion or nearly 57% of Microsoft's total top line in the first three quarters. The two major product groups dominate the bottom line even more, contributing $13.854 billion of operating earnings for the nine months, which was higher than Microsoft's total operating earnings of $12.951 billion.Other than the Server and Tools segment, which contributed operating earnings of $3.074 billion, and MSN, which is declining rapidly, the bottom line was dragged down by losses or miniscule earnings in other areas such as the Home Entertainment segment (largely Xbox 360), Business Solutions, and Mobile and Embedded Devices. |
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