Microsoft Jumps After Q2 Earnings Beat

Shares of tech giant

were trading up better than 3 percent in Tuesday's after-hours session after the company reported better than expected fiscal fourth-quarter financial results. The company reported Q4 adjusted earnings of $0.69 per share versus $0.62 per share in the year ago quarter. This handily beat analysts' consensus expectations calling for EPS of $0.58. Sales for the period climbed to $22.61 billion which beat analysts' consensus expectations of $22.14 billion. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, "The Microsoft Cloud is seeing significant customer momentum and we're well positioned to reach new opportunities in the year ahead." The company's cloud business, known as Intelligent Cloud, saw sales increase by 7 percent to $6.7 billion. Last month, Microsoft announced the acquisition of

for $26.2 billion. Looking ahead, the acquisition should propel sales growth at the Redmond, Washington-based company.