)
Satya Nadella takes over a Microsoft in sound financial health, as Table 1 reveals. With the usual seasonal fluctuations, its revenue has seen a steady upward trend. It did, however, see a big dip in profits last year, visible in Table 2 as it took a big writedown on the unsold inventory of its Surface tablet computer. But, with that exception, it has seen a respectable profit margin, as Table 3 makes clear. And, the markets, as Table 4 shows, have remained generally optimistic about Microsoft's future.
How does it compare to its peers? Table 5 shows how far it continues to be behind Apple in terms of revenue. Both Apple and Google have also seen sharp increases in revenue over the past years, much sharper than Microsoft. However, Microsoft's profit margin is just about the best in the business, as Table 6 makes clear. It is also investing in its future: Table 7 shows it puts more in for research and development as a percentage of revenue than most - an order of magnitude more than Apple, and comparable to Google - if less than the dominant chip-maker, Intel. Finally, Table 8 shows that the market is turning to Microsoft and Google at the expense of more traditional hardware makers in the past year.
