Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is set to release its Q4 and full fiscal year results this Thursday after the market closes, with an expected earnings per share figure of $0.35, which would be an increase over the year-ago quarter $0.31 figure. With the Q4 period being the first full quarter that the Windows Vista operating system has been for sale to all public channels, will Microsoft meet or best analyst estimates?Stay tuned to BloggingStocks this Thursday after the market closes to find out, as I'll be live-blogging Microsoft's Q4 call right here. Until then, I'm of the belief that analysts will again grill Microsoft brass on its internet strategy -- specifically its AdCenter platform (competitor to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)) and how performance there is shaping up. Also, the sparks may fly a little on Microsoft's billion-dollar commitment to extend the warranties on some Xbox 360 game consoles and the possible insider trades that happened right before the bad news broke.
On a lighter note, I'm interested to see how sales of Microsoft's newer Office 2007 productivity software are shaping up, since that is the single largest piece of Microsoft's revenue arsenal outside of the Windows franchise. Is Office 2007 selling, and well? We'll all see soon.
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