Microsoft reported strong fiscal third-quarter results, significantly surpassing Wall Street expectations due to robust growth in its cloud services and artificial intelligence offerings. The company's earnings per share (EPS) were $2.94, beating the forecast of $2.82. Total revenue reached $61.9 billion, exceeding estimates of $60.804 billion. Notably, Microsoft's Azure cloud service saw a 31% year-over-year growth, contributing to a commercial cloud revenue of $35.1 billion, a 23% increase from the previous year. CEO Satya Nadella highlighted that Microsoft has moved from talking about AI to applying it at scale, orchestrating a new era of AI transformation. The positive financial performance led to a 5.6% increase in Microsoft's stock price after hours.