Microsoft earnings in spotlight for signs of business recovery, Xbox growth

When Microsoft Corp reports earnings on Tuesday, investors will be looking for signs that big businesses are still investing in cloud computing, that smaller businesses are starting to recover and whether Xbox sales will be slowed by chip shortages.

The Redmond, Washington-based company is a winner of the pandemic-driven shift to working and learning from home, with businesses and schools adopting its Teams collaboration software and shifting many other apps to the cloud. But the pandemic also hurt sales to small businesses and sparked a global semiconductor shortage, analysts said.