BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 42 percent, helped by strong sales of its Office and Windows software, but the company predicted a softer-than-expected outlook for the current quarter.

    Earnings for the three months ended June 30 rose to 4.3 billion U.S. dollars, or 46 cents per share, missing Wall Street's expectations by a penny per share.

    In the year-ago quarter, Microsoft reported earnings of 3 billion dollars, or 31 cents per share, but the comparison isn't completely fair. Last year, Microsoft took a 1 billion dollar charge related to defective Xbox consoles. Taking the charge into account, operating income grew 13 percent from last year.

    Revenue increased 18 percent to nearly 15.8 billion dollars from 13.4 billion dollars last year, just ahead of Wall Street's average forecast of 15.7 billion dollars, according to a Thomson Financial survey. The revenue rise would have been 14 percent if not for weakness in the dollar.

    "Those are very good numbers for a company of our size, in what many companies are finding challenging conditions," Microsoft's chief financial officer, Chris Liddell, said in an interview.

    Despite the solid results, Microsoft offered guidance short of Wall Street's expectations for the current first quarter. The company said it expects to earn 47 to 48 cents per share on 14.7 billion dollars to 14.9 billion dollars in sales.

    Analysts had been looking for a profit of 49 cents per share on 15.1 billion dollars in revenue.

    (Agencies)