Oracle Earnings: Miss and Match
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 16, 2009 at 1:15 PM PT
Oracle shares are slipping after market trading today on news of the company’s latest financials. Seems that while Oracle’s earnings were in line with the Street’s expectations, sales were not.
For its fiscal first quarter, Oracle’s net income rose to $1.1 billion, or 22 cents a share, from $1 billion, or 21 cents a share in the same period last year. Revenue for the period ended in August fell five percent to $5.1 billion. Excluding special items, earnings for the quarter would have been 30 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had been expecting earnings, excluding items, of 30 cents a share, and $5.2 billion in revenue.
“By substantially improving operating margins we were able to increase Q1 earnings per share even though revenues decreased slightly,” Safra Catz, Oracle’s president, said in a statement. “We grew non-GAAP operating margins by 570 basis points to 46 percent in our seasonally smallest quarter. Our operating model continues to drive earnings for our stockholders.”
Yeah, but good luck trying to tell them that. Shares of Oracle (ORCL) have fallen more than three percent to $21.42 in after-hours trading following the earnings announcement.
