Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose around 5% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings driven by its cloud business.

The company's revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2024 was $61.9 billion, above analyst expectations and a 17% increase from the year-ago period. That growth came from a 23% year-over-year increase in Microsoft's cloud revenue to $35.1 billion.

Net income and diluted 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:earnings per share (EPS) were also aജbove analysts' estimates and♉ grew 20% from a year earlier.

Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI gave it a lead on artificial intelligence. Investors and analysts were 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:keeping a close eye🐭 on updates about AI tools as well as plans for their monet✃ization.

"Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry," said the company's CEO Satya Nadella wrote in the earnings release.

Microsoft shares were up more than 5% at $420.00 during after-hours trading contributing to the stock's more than 7% gain year-to-date.