REDMOND, Wash. (AP) _ Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $15.46 billion.

The Redmond, Washington-based company said it had profit of $2.03 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.64 per share.

The software maker posted revenue of $43.08 billion in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Twelve analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $40.12 billion.

Microsoft shares have climbed 4.5% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 2.5%. In the final minutes of trading on Tuesday, shares hit $232.50, an increase of 43% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MSFT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MSFT

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