Microsoft set to report earnings after the close

• Microsoft will report earnings and issue guidance after markets close.
• Analysts expect to see acceleration of cloud growth in fiscal fourth-quarter results.
• Microsoft shares are up 22% for the year as of Tuesday's close, trading near a record.

Microsoft is scheduled to report fiscal fourth-quarter results after markets close on Wednesday.

Here's what analysts are expecting, according to LSEG consensus:

• Earnings per share:$3.37
• Revenue:$73.81 billion

The estimates imply around 14% year-over-year revenue growth for Microsoft, the world's No. 2 company by market cap. Revenue in the same period a year earlier came in at $64.73 billion.

Like technology rivals Alphabet and Amazon, Microsoft has been rushing to add data center capacity to meet soaring demand for running artificial intelligence models. Analysts polled by Visible Alpha expect $100.5 billion in capital expenditures in Microsoft's 2026 fiscal year, which ends in June, representing 14% growth.

Last week Alphabet bumped up its 2025 capital spending forecast by $10 billion to $85 billion.

Investors also track Microsoft's overall Azure cloud computing business, which is expanding as companies migrate software from on-premises data centers. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expect Azure growth of 34.4%, while CNBC's consensus is 35.3%. In the fiscal third quarter, Azure growth came to 33%.

During the quarter, Microsoft celebrated its 50th anniversary, laid off more than 6,000 people and introduced a GitHub feature for assigning coding tasks to the Copilot assistant. The company also said LinkedIn chief Ryan Roslansky would take on added responsibility running Office productivity applications.

Microsoft shares are up about 22% in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained 8% over the same time period.

Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.