Oracle's Strong Quarter Lifts Shares

Enterprise software giant Oracle Corp. (ORCL) reported adjusted EPS and revenue that topped consensus estimates Wednesday after the bell, sending its shares higher by 6.5%. Shares fell 2.2% in composite trading Wednesday. Net income was up 35% to $1.3 billion in Oracle’s latest quarter (F2Q08), on a 28% rise in revenue to $5.3 billion. Adjusted net income was up 38% to $1.6 billion, good for adjusted EPS of $0.31. Analysts were expecting adjusted EPS of $0.27 on revenue of $5.04 billion. New software license revenues were up 35%, new license revenues for applications were up 63%, and services revenues were up 22% Y/Y.

Oracle President Charles Phillips contrasted his company’s strategy with main competitor SAP's (SAP): “We like our growth strategy of expanding beyond ERP [enterprise resource planning] into high-end industry specific vertical software in contrast to SAP's (SAP) strategy of moving down market to sell ERP systems to small companies.” CEO Larry Ellison added, "We continue to take market share from IBM (IBM) in both” database and middleware new license sales (Oracle F2Q08 (Qtr End 11/30/07) Earnings Call Transcript).

Sources: Press release
Additional Reading: 10 Software Predictions for 2008

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