Oracle posts 3Q profit lift

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 27 March 2008 07:25

IT Industry - Listed Tech

Oracle's third-quarter results showed substantial improvements on the prior-year period, but that wasn't enough to satisfy the market.

Headline figures show earnings per share up by 30 percent, revenue up 21 percent and operating income up 35 percent.

Oracle executives were in brag mode.

"Our operating margins are now substantially higher than our competitors, including Microsoft, reflecting the unique leverage in our business," said CEO Larry Ellison.

Company president Charles Phillips said "We continue to grow faster and take market share from IBM", and CFO Safra Catz chimed in with "we once again exceeded our non-GAAP EPS growth target of 20 percent."

The company also achieved the low end of its forecast for new software sales, but analysts were expecting more. Consequently, Oracle's share price fell below $US19.50 in after-hours trading after closing at $US20.94, a drop of eight percent.

The news appeared to drag down other major software vendors' shares: IBM, Microsoft and SAP all fell after the announcement.