Microsoft shares fall on 4Q outlook, weak Windows sales

Microsoft Corp. delivered an upbeat message for fiscal 2009, but its shares fell Friday after the software bellwether offered a lackluster outlook for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Micorosft on Thursday predicted fourth-quarter income of 45 cents to 48 cents per share, compared with the average estimate of 48 cents per share among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Furthermore, Microsoft reported quarterly sales of Windows software were below the predictions of Microsoft and Wall Street, although the company's results for the quarter ended March 31 were modestly above analyst estimates.

For its fiscal third quarter, Microsoft's profit fell 11 percent to $4.39 billion, or 47 cents per share, from $4.93 billion, or 50 cents per share, in the same period last year. Sales of Windows software fell 24 percent to $4.02 billion.

During the quarter, Microsoft faced disappointing personal computer sales and increased levels of unlicensed software in China.

Lehman Brothers analyst Israel Hernandez said in an investor note that the company's client software section reported sales at the low end of the company's guidance because of inventory problems, weak Windows sales and increased piracy.

He noted that the company's entertainment division easily beat his estimates because of stronger-than-expected Xbox video game console shipments. The company sold 1.3 million units, while Hernandez expected sales of just 800,000 units.

Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek also noted that sales of client software were somewhat weak, but said the entertainment division performed well.

He also said Microsoft's global presence should somewhat insulate it from an economic slowdown in the U.S.

"With two-thirds of the company's business outside the U.S., including 15 percent from high-growth emerging markets, Microsoft appears well positioned to weather a U.S. slowdown," he wrote in a client note.