Oracle Earnings: Not Bad…
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 23, 2009 at 1:55 PM PT
Investors expecting Oracle to post fourth-quarter earnings of 44 cents per share (excluding special items) based on analysts’ guidance, received a welcome surprise today when the company reported earnings two cents per share better.
Oracle revenue was down five percent from a year ago to $6.9 billion, but this was well above the Street consensus of $6.47 billion. And new license revenue, a key measure of software growth, dropped 13 percent, pretty much what Oracle (ORCL) had predicted back in March. So, a solid performance in a difficult economic climate. Said Oracle CFO Jeff Epstein, “We executed substantially better than we expected on both the top and bottom line for the quarter.”
Oracle shares were up more than 1.5 percent in after-hours trading on the news.
