What's going on?

At least those awkward virtual company socials have been paying off for someone: Microsoft reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings late on Tuesday, and its stock initially jumped 6%.

What does this mean?

With the world spending all day, every day in their own homes, Microsoft�s cloud computing business, �productivity� segment (think Microsoft Office and LinkedIn), and personal computing division (think XBox and Windows) have unsurprisingly been in high demand. And it showed: all three divisions � which make up roughly a third of sales each � did better than expected, with the cloud business even growing faster than it did the quarter before. Put it all together, and Microsoft�s profit beat expectations too. Maybe investors should�ve seen that coming: the company�s been on a long run of form, only falling short of analysts� expectations four times since 2010.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Everyone knows its name.

The pandemic hasn�t just boosted demand for Microsoft�s products: it�s lowered its operating costs too. The tech giant�s far-reaching name recognition, after all, makes it a go-to for home-based businesses, which means it hasn�t needed to pump as much money into marketing as normal. Of course, the question now is whether it�ll hold on to that captive audience when we�re all allowed outside again�

For markets: There�s life in the old dog yet.

The incoming economic recovery is expected to benefit cheaper-looking �cyclical� shares the most,which might be why Big Tech has underperformed the US stock market over the last three months. But Netflix�s better-than-expected results last week might�ve reminded investors there�s still plenty of growth in tech stocks to be had, and they�ve been piling back in ever since. That�s worked out especially well for Microsoft: its share price is now just shy of all-time highs, and there isn’t a single analyst at a major investment bank who recommends selling the stock.