Microsoft Earnings Explained: Dates and How to Read Them

Every three months, the biggest listed companies tell investors how the past quarter went for them. They usually do it in the evening, after the stock market has closed. Within minutes the headlines disagree. One says the company beat, one says the shares are sliding, and a third quotes a profit number that matches neither.

That confusion is easy to fall into, because a quarterly report is a bundle of documents that land within an hour of each other. Some carry two different profit figures. The quarters are often named after a fiscal year that runs on its own calendar, and the forecast that moves the price may only be read out on a call.

Reading a report well is mostly a matter of order. You check which quarter it covers and open the documents in sequence. Then you read a handful of lines first and hold each one against the right yardstick, which is usually the same quarter a year earlier and what was expected going in.

Microsoft (MSFT) makes a useful case study for this. It reports after the US close, gives two earnings figures every quarter and now groups its businesses into two new segments. BloFin lists the MSFTUSDT Perpetual, which tracks Microsoft's share price and is settled in USDT. A Microsoft report night therefore reaches crypto traders as well as shareholders.

What is a Microsoft earnings report?

A Microsoft earnings report is the set of results the company releases each quarter after the US close. It has four parts: a results release, a copy of that release for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a live call with management, and the full quarterly filing. The July to September 2026 report came out on October 28, 2026.

That October report is a good model of what to expect. The release put revenue at $92.3 billion, 19% more than in the same quarter of 2025 (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). It also gave two figures for diluted earnings per share (EPS), the profit that falls to each share: $4.92 under US accounting rules and $4.89 on Microsoft's adjusted basis (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). Both are correct, and a headline that quotes one without saying which basis it uses tells only half the story.

On a report night, the reading order is short. First, check which fiscal quarter the report covers. Next, read revenue and the metrics that track Microsoft's biggest businesses, led by its Azure cloud, and then the two EPS figures. After that, listen to the call or read a transcript for the forecast, because that is where the company sets out what it expects for the coming quarter. Save the full filing for any line in the release that needs explaining.

Because the share price rests on these numbers, the quarterly report is the main scheduled event for anyone who holds or trades Microsoft stock (MSFT).

Microsoft earnings dates and the fiscal calendar

Microsoft reports four times a year, late in January, April, July and October, after the US market closes at 4PM ET. Its fiscal year ends on June 30, so July to September is the first quarter of the next fiscal year. Q1 FY2027 covered July to September 2026, and Microsoft reported it on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

The company confirmed that date on October 7, 2026. Results were posted to its investor relations website once trading ended, and the live webcast started at 5.30PM ET, or 9.30PM UTC (source: Microsoft, October 7, 2026). The notice came exactly three weeks ahead. It gave the same lead time in the spring, when it said on April 8 that it would report on April 29 (source: Microsoft, April 8, 2026).

Every report in the last year fell on a Wednesday. Each time, the full quarterly filing reached the SEC within about ten minutes of the 4PM ET close.

The SEC's filing index shows the fiscal 2026 annual report, the 10-K, accepted at 4.08PM ET on July 29, 2026 (source: SEC filing index, Microsoft 10-K). The fourth quarter's numbers come inside that annual report. That is why the July filing is a 10-K, while the October, January and April filings are 10-Qs.

Two details trip up readers outside the US. In US daylight time the 4PM ET close is 8PM UTC, but in January it is 9PM UTC, because US daylight time finishes on the first Sunday of November. That applies to the next report, for Q2 FY2027. Microsoft usually reports in late January and has not given the date yet, though last time it named the day three weeks ahead (source: Microsoft, October 7, 2026). And the quarter in a headline is a fiscal label, so "Microsoft's second quarter" means October to December. Microsoft's dates sit inside the wider calendar of US earnings season.

What Microsoft publishes on report day

On report day Microsoft posts its results release on its investor relations site and files it with the SEC on a Form 8-K. Within minutes it also files the full 10-Q, or the 10-K after the fourth quarter. The next quarter's forecast comes about ninety minutes later, on the call, so two moments in the evening can move the shares.

Each document has its own use, and reading them in order saves time.

The second 8-K came with the change of segments. It regroups the last three fiscal years into the two new segments. Microsoft says this is not a restatement, so the figures it published before are not being corrected (source: Microsoft Form 8-K, October 28, 2026).

The release says it plainly: Microsoft "will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast" (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). Guidance, or the outlook, is the range Microsoft expects for the coming quarter's revenue, costs and growth in its main businesses. It is spoken on the call and posted as outlook slides on the investor site, and it is left out of the release. So the first price move after 4PM ET reacts to the quarter just ended, and a second move can follow once management reads out the forecast.

The reconciliation near the end of the release shows what causes the gap between the two EPS figures. The 10-Q or 10-K fills in what the release leaves out, such as why other income swung or which contracts drove a big quarter.

Microsoft results and the BloFin perpetual

Microsoft's results arrive just after the US close, which is outside BloFin's regular hours for stock futures. Outside those hours, BloFin may limit stock futures such as the MSFTUSDT Perpetual to reduce-only orders. Reduce-only means you can shrink or close a position, and nothing more. In US daylight time, those regular hours end at 8PM UTC.

BloFin's notice gives weekday regular hours as 1.30PM until 8PM UTC during US daylight saving, or 2.30PM until 9PM UTC otherwise. At other times, including weekends and US market holidays, BloFin says stock futures may switch to reduce-only orders (source: BloFin stock futures notice). A Microsoft release a few minutes after 4PM ET, and the 5.30PM ET call, both fall in that window. So a position you mean to hold through the numbers is one you would need to open before the close.

That timing shapes how much risk a report night carries. The first reaction to the release and the second one to the forecast both happen while you may only be able to cut a position. So the margin behind it has to absorb a large move in either direction. How margin and leverage turn a price move into a loss is set out in leverage and liquidation, and planning a trade around dated news like a results night is the subject of event risk in crypto.

The contract itself, from leverage to funding, is covered in the MSFT perpetual on BloFin. It is one of the stock perpetuals listed among the TradFi assets on BloFin, and every BloFin stock future follows the same regular hours.

Reading the report and watching the price can go hand in hand. The release, the reconciliation and the forecast on the call are the inputs the market is pricing, and the MSFTUSDT Perpetual page shows how the contract's price moves as each one lands.

The FY27 segments and investor metrics to read first

Since the October 28, 2026 report, Microsoft groups its results into two segments, Agents and Infra and Devices and Consumer. Before, it used three. The lines worth reading first are the investor metrics inside them, led by Azure revenue growth, which now covers a narrower set of cloud and AI services (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1).

The Agents and Infra segment covers the Microsoft Cloud, productivity and server licensing, and consulting and support. The Devices and Consumer segment covers Windows, Xbox and advertising. Microsoft set out the change in a September 2026 presentation and restated fiscal 2026 on the new basis, so each metric already has a year-earlier figure to compare with (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1). In the first quarter reported on that basis, Agents and Infra brought in $76.8 billion, up 25%, and Devices and Consumer $15.5 billion, down 3%. Inside them, Azure grew 48% and Microsoft 365 commercial cloud 17%. Take out a one-point boost a year earlier from revenue booked up front, and the second figure is 18% (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). On the restated basis, the same two lines had grown 42% and 16% in April to June 2026 (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1).

Traffic acquisition costs (TAC) are the payments Microsoft makes to partner sites that show its search ads. The ex-TAC figure is the ad revenue it keeps after paying them. The same presentation keeps two wider gauges in the list: the Microsoft Cloud gross margin percentage, and commercial remaining performance obligation, the contracted revenue still to come (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1).

The new Azure definition changes the baseline. In July, the company reported 43% growth for Azure and other cloud services (source: Microsoft FY26 Q4 results). On the narrower definition, with GitHub's cloud and Security Copilot moved into Microsoft 365, the same quarter grew 42%. So the 48% Azure growth for July to September 2026 belongs beside that 42%, and beside the 44% to 45% range Microsoft gave in September on the same definition (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1). LinkedIn also stops showing up as its own line, because its revenue now sits inside Industry solutions and Search and advertising. The dollar size of each line is set out in the breakdown of Microsoft's revenue.

GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share at Microsoft

Microsoft gives two EPS figures each quarter. The GAAP figure follows generally accepted accounting principles, the US rules. The non-GAAP figure removes gains and losses on its OpenAI stake, and Reuters set it against analysts' estimates in July 2026 (source: Reuters via Zawya). In the five quarters to September 2026, the gap ran from $0.41 a share one way to $1.02 the other.

Each release has a reconciliation, a short table that bridges the two figures. Set the last five versions side by side and you can see how far the OpenAI line swings (source: Microsoft FY26 Q1 results) (source: Microsoft FY26 Q2 results) (source: Microsoft FY26 Q3 results) (source: Microsoft FY26 Q4 results) (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results).

The swings come from the way the company accounts for OpenAI. It records its slice of OpenAI's profit or loss under other income, using what accountants call the equity method. In fiscal 2026 it also booked gains when OpenAI's new funding and its change of structure shrank Microsoft's percentage stake (source: Microsoft 10-K, fiscal 2026). That is how the December quarter's GAAP EPS jumped to $5.16 while the adjusted figure barely moved from $4.13. The bridge also bends growth rates. In July to September 2026, gains of $207 million on OpenAI added just $0.03 a share. Even so, GAAP EPS grew 32% while the adjusted figure grew 18%, because July to September 2025 took a $0.41 OpenAI loss (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results).

Only OpenAI is taken out, and that is the detail most headlines miss. The $3.2 billion gain on Microsoft's stake in Anthropic in the June quarter stayed inside both the GAAP and the non-GAAP figures. So did the Xbox severance and impairment charges booked in the same quarter (source: Microsoft FY26 Q4 results). When you compare a reported result with an analyst estimate, check first that both use the same basis. Then read the release's notes for one-off items that sit inside the adjusted number too.

Constant currency growth

Constant-currency growth shows how fast Microsoft would have grown if exchange rates had stayed put. It converts this year's and last year's results at last year's average rates. That way a weaker dollar, which makes sales abroad worth more once they are turned into dollars, cannot flatter the figure. Microsoft gives most of its growth rates both ways, side by side.

Microsoft says the measure shows how its underlying businesses did without the effect of currency moves from one year to the next (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). The gap between the two numbers tells you how much the dollar helped or hurt. In October to December 2025, revenue grew 17% as reported but 15% in constant currency, so about 2 points of growth came from exchange rates (source: Microsoft FY26 Q2 results). In January to March 2026 the gap was 3 points, 18% against 15% (source: Microsoft FY26 Q3 results). In July to September 2026 it ran the other way for profit: operating income grew 21% as reported and 22% in constant currency, so currency moves cost about a point (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results).

That gap matters most for guidance, because the company gives much of its outlook in constant currency, including Azure's growth range. For October to December 2026, Amy Hood, Microsoft's finance chief, put Azure's expected growth at 49% to 50%, measured in constant currency (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 earnings call transcript). When the Q2 FY2027 report lands, set its constant-currency Azure figure against that range, and the reported figure against October to December 2025. Mixing up the two bases can make an on-target quarter look like a miss, or the other way round.

Seasonality and year-over-year comparisons

Microsoft's revenue is uneven across the year. Its 10-K says revenue is generally higher in the fiscal fourth quarter, April to June, when more multi-year contracts are signed. In fiscal 2026 that quarter brought in 27.1% of the year's revenue, against 23.4% in July to September, using Microsoft's restated quarterly figures.

The 10-K gives the reason in one line: fourth-quarter revenue "is driven by a higher volume of multi-year contracts executed during the period" (source: Microsoft 10-K, fiscal 2026). The restated figures show the same shape in both fiscal years (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1).

This is why quarters are compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Against the quarter just before, fiscal 2026's fourth quarter grew 8.6%. Say you then set the latest quarter, July to September 2026, against April to June. Revenue of $92.3 billion was only 2.5% higher, which looks like a stall. Against July to September 2025 it was 18.8% higher (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). The year before showed the same shape: the first quarter of fiscal 2026 was 1.6% up on the quarter before it, and 18.4% up on a year earlier.

The fourth-quarter bump is clearest in productivity and server licensing, the line that counts software licenses for customers' own servers. It rose from $8.8 billion in January to March 2026 to $11.0 billion in April to June, and the June quarter carried 29.6% of its year (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1). Devices and Consumer runs on a different rhythm. Its biggest quarter in both years was October to December, which takes in the holiday shopping season, and Xbox revenue peaked in that quarter too.

How to judge a beat or a miss

A beat means a figure topped the average of analysts' estimates, and a miss means it fell short. Hold each result against three bars: the analysts' consensus, the range Microsoft itself guided to, and the same quarter a year earlier. The share price often reacts more to the next quarter's forecast than to the size of the beat.

The October 2026 report shows all three bars at work. Microsoft's own outlook is the cleanest bar, because the company sets it in public. Revenue of $92.3 billion came in $1.3 billion above the top of its $89.85 billion to $90.95 billion range. Azure's 48% beat its 44% to 45% range (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1). Capital spending, which counts finance leases, went the other way. It was $45.2 billion, against an outlook of over $50 billion (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1). Amy Hood said some data center capacity Microsoft expected from other firms arrived late (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 earnings call transcript).

The consensus bar needs more care, because a headline can mix two bases. Investing.com set diluted EPS of $4.92, the GAAP figure, against analyst estimates of $4.72 (source: Investing.com), a beat of 4.2%. Reuters compared the adjusted figure with estimates in July (source: Reuters via Zawya). On that basis, $4.89 against Investing.com's $4.72 is a 3.6% beat. Against July to September 2025, adjusted EPS grew 18%.

The forecast is often what moves the stock, and the July 2026 report showed how far. For July to September, Microsoft guided growth of about 45% for Azure and other cloud services, the old definition, in constant currency. Analysts had expected 40.92%, according to Visible Alpha's consensus. Reuters reported the shares up more than 8% in extended trading after the forecast (source: Reuters via Zawya). By the next day's close they were up 15.5% (source: Yahoo Finance, Microsoft price history). On October 28 the forecast covered October to December 2026. Amy Hood guided revenue of $96.0 billion to $97.1 billion, up 18% to 19% (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 earnings call transcript). The same logic runs the other way: a quarter can beat on every line and still send the shares lower if the outlook falls short of what the market had priced in.

Consensus figures differ a little from one data provider to the next. So check whose average a headline uses before you treat a few cents as a beat or a miss. The estimates and the outlook that went into the October 2026 report are set out in the Q1 FY2027 earnings preview.

Looking to trade the MSFTUSDT Perpetual around a Microsoft earnings report? To get started, you'll need to first create a BloFin account, fund your account with cryptocurrency, and go to the MSFTUSDT Perpetual trading page.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I watch or replay Microsoft's earnings call?

Microsoft streams each earnings call live on its investor relations website and keeps a recording there afterward for anyone who missed it. For the call on October 28, 2026, it said the replay would stay up through the close of business on October 28, 2027, a full year later. So an older call is still there to check when a later report refers back to it (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results).

When are Microsoft's earnings dates in 2027?

Microsoft named its last report date only three weeks ahead (source: Microsoft, October 7, 2026), so its 2027 dates are still estimates. Wall Street Horizon, a company-events data provider, lists inferred dates of January 27, April 28 and July 28, 2027. All three are Wednesdays after the close, based on Microsoft's past pattern (source: Wall Street Horizon, Microsoft earnings calendar). Treat them as estimates until Microsoft's own notice appears.

What is Microsoft's commercial remaining performance obligation?

Commercial remaining performance obligation (RPO) is revenue Microsoft has already signed with business customers but has yet to book. It includes amounts billed in advance and amounts still to be invoiced (source: Microsoft 10-Q, September 2026). By September 30, 2026 it stood at $677 billion, 73% higher than a year before (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). Microsoft said about 30% of it should turn into revenue within the next 12 months, and the rest later (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 earnings call transcript). That is why investors read it as a gauge of sales already lined up for later quarters.

What counts as Microsoft Cloud revenue?

From fiscal 2027, Microsoft Cloud revenue is the total of Azure, Microsoft 365 commercial cloud and Industry solutions cloud. That is the definition in Microsoft's September 2026 presentation of its new metrics (source: Microsoft 8-K Exhibit 99.1). Measured that way, the three lines added up to $63.9 billion for the quarter that ended in September 2026, a 30% rise on the year before, or 31% in constant currency (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results).

How much cash does Microsoft return to shareholders each quarter?

Microsoft returned $10.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks in July to September 2026, according to its first-quarter release (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). The 10-Q splits that into $7.3 billion of dividends declared and $2.9 billion of buybacks under the repurchase program (source: Microsoft 10-Q, September 2026). The cash-flow statement shows a different pair: $6.8 billion of dividends paid and $4.4 billion of stock bought back (source: Microsoft FY27 Q1 results). A dividend declared in one quarter is paid in the next, and the cash line also counts shares bought back to cover staff tax on vested stock (source: Microsoft 10-Q, September 2026).

Researched and written by the BloFin Academy editorial team with AI-assisted drafting. All facts independently verified. Primary sources include Microsoft's results releases for the four quarters of fiscal 2026 and the first quarter of fiscal 2027, its October 28, 2026 earnings call transcript, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, its report-date notices of April 8 and October 7, 2026, its fiscal 2026 Form 10-K and the SEC filing index for it, and Exhibit 99.1 to its Form 8-K of September 2, 2026. Other sources are Reuters and Investing.com reporting of analysts' estimates, Yahoo Finance price history, Wall Street Horizon's earnings calendar and BloFin's stock futures trading notice of April 21, 2026, current as of October 29, 2026.

Nothing in this article constitutes financial advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold Microsoft in any form. Microsoft's share price can move sharply on a report night, as it did by 15.5% in one session in July 2026. That move can come from the forecast on the call as much as from the quarter itself. A leveraged MSFTUSDT Perpetual position held through a report can be liquidated if the price gaps the wrong way, and after the US close BloFin may accept only orders that reduce or close it. Past performance does not indicate future results. Do your own research and consider your risk tolerance before you trade on BloFin.