Microsoft (MSFT) will report its Q4 2021 earnings after the closing bell on Tuesday, with analysts looking toward how much the tech giant has managed to continue to build out of its cloud empire.

Here’s what analysts are expecting from the Windows maker in the quarter, as compiled by Bloomberg, versus how it performed in Q4 2020.

  • Revenue: $44.25 billion expected versus $38 billion in Q4 2020
  • Earnings per share: $1.92 expected versus $1.46 in Q4 2020
  • Productivity and Business Processes: $13.9 billion expected versus $11.8 billion in Q4 2020
  • Intelligent Cloud: $16.4 billion expected versus $13.4 billion in Q4 2020
  • More Personal Computing: $13.8 billion expected versus $12.9 billion in Q4 2020

Microsoft’s cloud business has been the key to its impressive stock performance in recent years, capping it off with the company’s market capitalization closing about $2 trillion for the first time in its history in June. And analysts are expecting more from the business in Q4. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note ahead of Microsoft’s earnings.:

“We expect another ‘beat and raise’ special from Redmond with Azure growth numbers (45%+ YoY) that exceed whisper expectations and headline numbers that comfortably exceed the Street’s $44 billion and $1.90 estimate.”

He added:

“We are seeing deal sizes continue to increase markedly as enterprise-wide digital transformation shifts are accelerating with CIOs all focused on readying their respective enterprises for a cloud driven architecture.”

The pandemic forced many companies to build out capabilities for their employees to work from home, driving businesses to spend more on cloud resources. And with more employees seeking work-from-home opportunities, firms will need to keep meeting those requests, ensuring they continue to invest in cloud capabilities moving forward.

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