Microsoft’s stock soared to new heights in after-hours trading following the release of a strong earnings report on Oct. 20. The software giant posted $22.33 billion in revenue for its first quarter in fiscal 2017, and beat Wall Street’s earnings-per-share expectations by more than 12%.
The stock rose 6% in after-hours trading, rising above its highest-ever closing price, reached in 1999.
Investors have been buying into Microsoft since CEO Satya Nadella has turned the company’s focus to the cloud and mobile devices, a strategy that’s paying off. Although revenue from the company’s Windows products was flat as the PC market continued to stagnate, the company’s Office 365 and Azure cloud-computing services grew at a healthy clip. On-demand computing services revenue rose to $6.4 billion, an increase of about 10% adjusted for currency fluctuations, and sales from its productivity and business processes segment, including Microsoft Office, climbed 6% to $6.7 billion.