Microsoft (MSFT) reported strong growth in its fiscal first-quarter 2026 results, showcasing a 17% increase in Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenues while seat growth expanded by 6%, driven by small and medium-sized businesses. In the consumer segment, Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud revenues surged 26%, with subscriptions surpassing 90 million. Key contributions included the adoption of Microsoft 365 E5 and the Copilot AI assistant, which achieved 150 million monthly active users and a 50% acceleration in Copilot Chat usage quarter-over-quarter.
The company announced price increases effective July 2026, raising monthly fees by up to three dollars across subscription tiers, while extending promotional offers through June 2026 to boost Copilot adoption. Microsoft also reported 900 million monthly active users engaged with AI features and commercial remaining performance obligations reaching $392 billion. In comparison, Apple recently crossed 1 billion subscriptions with services revenues of $26.3 billion, while Google Workspace boasts eight million paying business customers.
Currently, MSFT shares have seen a 4.7% decline over the past six months but still outperform the Zacks Computer – Software industry’s 7.8% decline. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for MSFT’s fiscal 2026 earnings is $15.59 per share, indicating a 14.3% year-over-year growth.
