Shares of Microsoft Corp. sank more than 5 percent on Friday, a day after the company missed Wall Street’s earnings forecast by a penny, and issued softer-than-expected guidance for the current first quarter.

Microsoft cited weakness in the online business, which makes most of its money from Web advertising.

With a Yahoo Inc. search deal uncertain at best, Microsoft additionally plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars more than expected in the next year to whip its unprofitable online operations into

Analysts, however, wondered how enlarged Wall Street can wait to see those bets pay off.

Shares dropped $1.41 in trading, to $26.11.

Microsoft said Thursday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 42 percent — or 13 percent, factoring in a hefty charge a year ago — as revenue topped $15 billion.

For the three months ended June 30, Microsoft’s profit jumped 42 percent to $4.3 billion, or 46 cents per share. […]

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