[Little Bear Team] Microsoft FY26Q4 Quick Review: Azure Growth Accelerates to 43%, AI Applications Enter the 'Seat + Usage' Monetization Stage

English summary

Revenue and profit both beat expectations, but operating margin declined sequentially. In FY26Q4 (calendar Q2 2026), Microsoft achieved total revenue of $90.0B (beating consensus of $87.713B), up 18% YoY, or 17% in constant currency. Gross profit grew 15% YoY, operating profit grew 18% YoY. Excluding the impact of OpenAI investment, EPS was $4.74, up 23% YoY (beating consensus of $4.24). One-time items including Anthropic investment gains and lower-than-expected voluntary retirement plan costs added approximately $0.27 to diluted EPS in the quarter. Even after excluding these items, revenue, operating profit, and EPS all still exceeded previous expectations. Overall gross margin was 67%, continuing to decline YoY, mainly due to the revenue mix shifting toward Azure, continued AI infrastructure investment, and growing AI product usage. Efficiency gains in Azure and Microsoft 365 commercial cloud partially offset the pressure...