Microsoft Corp. is tempering its income outlook as it boosts research and development spending, leaving some analysts grappling with whether that decision will translate to higher profits.

For the three months ended March 31, Microsoft earned $2.98 billion, or 29 cents per share, compared with $2.56 billion, or 23 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

The most recent results included a charge of 3 cents per share for legal expenses. However, the company said that, without rounding, it actually earned 28.6 cents per share and took a charge of 2.6 cents per share. That means it would have earned 31 cents per share.

Revenue for the three-month period was $10.9 billion, a 13 percent increase over sales of $9.62 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 33 cents per share, on revenue of $11.04 billion.

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