Microsoft profit up 31% on Office, Kinect sales

By David Goldman, staff writerApril 28, 2011: 4:20 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Microsoft Corp. reported quarterly sales and profit Thursday that rose from year-ago results and beat Wall Street’s forecasts.

The Redmond, Wash., software giant said its fiscal third-quarter net income rose 31% to $5.2 billion, or 61 cents per share, for the period ended March 31. Results included a one-time tax benefit of 5 cents per share. Without the benefit, Microsoft earned 56 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items from their estimates, had forecast earnings of $4.8 billion or 56 cents per share.

Sales rose 13% to $16.4 billion, topping analysts’ forecasts of $16.2 billion.

Revenue was particularly boosted by sales of Office, Kinect and Microsoft’s server software. But flat-lining PC sales resulted in lower Windows sales and profit than in the same period last year.

“We delivered strong financial results despite a mixed PC environment, which demonstrates the strength and breadth of our businesses,” Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft, said in a prepared statement. “Consumers are purchasing Office 2010, Xbox and Kinect at tremendous rates, and businesses of all sizes are purchasing Microsoft platforms and applications.”

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) were unchanged after hours.