Lead
Microsoft shares closed up more than 15% on Thursday, July 30, after fiscal fourth-quarter results showed accelerating Azure growth and capital spending plans that stayed flat for calendar 2026.
Yahoo Finance reported the stock finished at $451.10, up $60.56, or 15.51%. The Standard, citing LSEG data, said the session added nearly $450 billion in market value, larger than Nvidia’s prior one-day record of $441 billion set on April 9, 2025, and lifted Microsoft’s market capitalization to about $3.35 trillion.
Search interest for msft stock rose on 31 Jul 2026, ranking 11 on the Google Trends pull the morning after Microsoft’s roughly 15% post-earnings jump, sitting beside other tech-disruption queries for t-mobile service disruption compensation and american airlines nationwide it outage on the same board.
Earnings
In its July 29 release, Microsoft said revenue for the quarter ended June 30 was $90.0 billion, up 18% year over year. Operating income was $40.6 billion. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $4.81.
Intelligent Cloud revenue reached $39.3 billion, up 32%. Azure and other cloud services revenue rose 43%. Microsoft Cloud revenue was $59.3 billion, up 27%. CEO Satya Nadella said Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time in the fiscal year, and that Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats.
CFO Amy Hood called out the Microsoft Cloud figure as the highlight that closed the year. The company also said commercial remaining performance obligation rose 84% to $678 billion.
Why the market moved
Investors had been pressing Big Tech on whether AI data-center spending would outrun returns. Yahoo Finance noted Microsoft spent $41 billion on capital expenditures, including leases, in the quarter, below the $42 billion many expected, and left 2026 spending plans unchanged.
The Standard reported Microsoft still expects about $50 billion of capital expenditures in fiscal first-quarter 2027 and $175 billion for calendar 2026. For the new quarter, the company guided Azure growth to 45% on a constant-currency basis, above a Visible Alpha consensus near 41%.
The Manila Times said the rally was Microsoft’s best day in nearly 18 years and helped lift the S&P 500 by 1.7% and the Nasdaq by 2.8%. It also noted Meta Platforms fell about 8% after a weaker profit print and higher investment spending, underscoring how markets are rewarding AI plans that show revenue catch-up without fresh spending surprises.
Microsoft Source posted the earnings materials on July 29 for the investor call that afternoon. Coverage of the record market-value day followed the Thursday close; the Trends spike landed on Friday morning’s board rather than in the first wave of earnings wires.