Microsoft shares are soaring after hours following a top- and bottom-line beat

• Revenue was $56.5 billion (better than the expected $54.54 billion) and increased 13% (up 12% in constant currency).

• Diluted earnings per share was $2.99 (better than the $2.65 expected) and increased 27% (up 26% in constant currency).

Under the hood, all the segments beat expectations but Cloud was the highlight:

• *MICROSOFT 1Q PRODUCTIVITY REV $18.59B, EST. $18.29B

• *MICROSOFT 1Q MORE PERSONAL COMPUTING REV. $13.67B, EST. $12.89B

• *MICROSOFT 1Q CLOUD REV. $31.8B, EST. $31.19B

• *MICROSOFT 1Q INTELLIGENT CLOUD REV. $24.26B, EST. $23.61B

"With copilots, we are making the age of AI real for people and businesses everywhere," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft.

"We are rapidly infusing AI across every layer of the tech stack and for every role and business process to drive productivity gains for our customers.”

Revenue just from Azure jumped 29% during the quarter, faster than the 26% consensus, and above the 27% last quarter..

“Consistent execution by our sales teams and partners drove a strong start to the fiscal year with Microsoft Cloud revenue of $31.8 billion, up 24% (up 23% in constant currency) year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

It would appear - at first glance - that MSFT is beating GOOGL at the AI/Cloud game as the former beat and the latter missed.