04:48 PM EDT, 04/30/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT ) late Wednesday reported stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results as demand for the technology giant's cloud offerings grew.

Per-share earnings increased to $3.46 during the three months ended March 31 from $2.94 a year earlier, higher than the GAAP consensus on FactSet for $3.21. Revenue rose 13% to $70.07 billion, exceeding Wall Street's $68.44 billion view.

Shares were up 5.5% in after-hours trading.

Cloud revenue advanced 20% to $42.4 billion, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said in a statement.

The intelligent cloud segment's sales jumped 21% annually to $26.75 billion, driven by a 33% surge in cloud-computing platform Azure and other cloud services, Microsoft ( MSFT ) said.

The productivity and business processes division reported a 10% sales increase to $29.94 billion, buoyed by gains in 365 and LinkedIn. The more personal computing unit rose 6% to $13.37 billion as Windows and Xbox sales grew year-on-year.