It's here we are at a fact check up on Microsoft's grand turnaround vision

When Satya Nadella was crowned the CEO of office professional plus 2016 in February 2014, he brought a brand-new playbook for the company. Versus focusing exclusively on Windows, his Microsoft would please take a "cloud-first, mobile-first" stance.

Around thirty-six months later, the world is looking great. Microsoft stock is hitting all-time highs, as Wall Street responds favorably toward the strong and continued continuing development of the Office 365 subscription productivity suite, along with Microsoft Azure cloud computing service - the poster children for Nadella's post-Windows approach.

But yet, when Microsoft announces its quarterly earnings results on Thursday once your bell, nevertheless has a lot to prove, to Wall Street and then to the modern world. Because while Nadella's vision has took a reinvigorated Microsoft, the greatest question remains: Will Nadella's big bets within the cloud and mobile grow fast enough to offset its fading old businesses?

Listed here are the actual main learn about for example when office professional plus 2010 announces earnings on Thursday:

Windows: Every day industry was shrinking for five years straight now, and Microsoft's missteps in mobile have got here Windows 10 almost using the uptake that company was hoping for. At this point, the Windows business has very slightly outpaced the decline for this overall PC industry, nonetheless it is potential customers are still sometimes an open question. We'll acquire an update with that business on Thursday.

Cannibalization: As an effective subscription service, Microsoft Office 365 can make more cash per customer for Microsoft from the long-term, as they simply (theoretically) pay monthly in perpetuity. The service is luring people out of your traditional, pay-once versions of Microsoft Office. Similarly, the fast-growing Microsoft Azure cloud is eating inside the lucrative Windows Server business. When Microsoft announces earnings, we'll to pay for update regarding how that dynamic is happening.

LinkedIn: Here is the first full quarter since Microsoft's $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn closed, and investors should to look at kind of results. Last quarter, LinkedIn lost $100 million on $282 million in revenue. Glasses are designed Microsoft is making steps towards integrating LinkedIn data with its other software, the agency really needs to prove in which the acquisition makes up off at some point soon.

To phrase it differently, investors are stored on board with Nadella's vision to obtain world where Microsoft weathers the shrinking PC market by dominating the worlds among the cloud and business software.

Real estate market older businesses still trigger a large slice of Microsoft's revenue. While the cloud is increasing fast, investors will be searching for signs how the growth will translate into a wide enough, high-margin business to offset that shrinkage.

We'll be covering office professional plus 2013's earnings live, so you'll want to recurring Thursday when the bell. Wall Street analysts are expecting Microsoft to report earnings of $0.70 a share on revenue of $23.62 billion.