SEATTLE — Microsoft ended 2014 on a mixed note, earning a profit that met the expectations of Wall Street analysts but came in well below the previous year as the company dealt with restructuring charges and an income tax hit.
The company, based outside Seattle in Redmond, on Monday reported a profit of 71 cents a share during the three months ended Dec. 31, below the 78 cents a share the company earned in the same period a year earlier. The results met the expectations of financial analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Charges related to the 18,000 layoffs Microsoft announced in July and an income tax charge as a result of an Internal Revenue Service audit lowered the company’s profit by a combined 6 cents a share, the company said.
Revenue for the quarter was $26.5 billion, the company said, beating expectations for $26.3 billion. Microsoft’s net income was $5.8 billion, down 11 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.
Through Monday’s close, the stock had gained 28 percent in the last year as investors cheered Microsoft’s rounds of cost-cutting and generally higher-than-expected profits during chief executive Satya Nadella’s first year at the helm.
