Microsoft shares were on track for their biggest gain in three months after it reported strong sales, bolstered by recovering cloud-computing growth amid demand for new artificial intelligence products.

Revenue in the fiscal first quarter, which ended Sept. 30, rose 13 per cent to $US56.5 billion, the most in six quarters and topping analysts’ average projections. Profit was $US2.99 a share, the software maker said in a statement Tuesday. Azure cloud-services sales gained 29 per cent, compared with 26 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

Washington Post