Microsoft Sees Revenue Rising in Fourth Quarter, Then Flattening

Revenue for software giant Microsoft (MSFT Quote) should rise by about $500 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999 from the third quarter but flatten out in the first quarter of 2000, CFO Greg Maffei said.

Maffei gave his guidance to analysts in a conference call after the Redmond, Wash., company reported third-quarter earnings of 35 cents a share, beating the 22-analyst First Call estimate of 32 cents and moving up from 25 cents a year ago. Total revenue hit $4.33 billion, up 15% from $3.77 billion a year ago. Maffei noted that sales in Asia, particularly from PC sales in Japan, and strong Windows NT Workstation orders helped boost profits.

An investment gain of more than $350 million in the quarter also helped ease $400 million in revenue linked to Office 2000 upgrade coupons the company had to push out to subsequent quarters. But in the current quarter, Maffei cautioned that investment income was likely to fall back to around $100 million. ...