UPDATE:Oracle 4Q Jumps 25% On Strong Software, New Hardware Revenue
24 Juin 2010 - 11:37PM
Dow Jones News
Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL) fiscal fourth-quarter profit climbed 25%
as the business-software giant benefited from new revenue from its
Sun Microsystems acquisition, as well as strong demand for software
licenses.
President Safra Catz said in a statement that Sun contributed
more than $400 million in operating profit during the quarter, and
should "meet or exceed" the company's goals for fiscal 2011 and
2012.
"It was a good quarter," said David A. Stepherson, a portfolio
manager at Hardesty Capital Management. "They beat the top line,
they beat the bottom line, and the news is good about the Sun
merger."
Shares rose 4.2% to $23.15 in after-hours trading on the strong
results, boosted in part by January's $7.4 billion acquisition of
Sun. New hardware systems revenue added $1.83 billion to the
results, and made up 19% of the company's total revenue.
Meanwhile, Oracle continued to take "large chunks of market
share" from rival SAP AG (SAP, SAP.XE), claimed Charles Phillips,
co-president of the company.
There may be renewed competition from SAP, however, with the
company's planned acquisition of database-maker Sybase Inc. (SY).
"It may put some pricing pressure on them," said Laxmi Poruri,
senior analyst at Primary Global Research.
Earlier this month, Oracle said it would make additional job
cuts at Sun in Europe and Asia, resulting in total restructuring
costs that will likely top $1 billion and far exceed earlier
estimates. Fitch Ratings last month warned that the company's
credit quality depended largely on the success of its integration
of Sun, although the ratings agency did tout Oracle's ample
liquidity, strong customer trends and established track record of
integrating software acquisitions.
For the quarter ended May 31, Oracle posted a profit of $2.36
billion, or 46 cents a share, up from $1.89 billion, or 38 cents a
share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-compensation, restructuring
and acquisition-related costs, earnings jumped to 60 cents from 46
cents.
Revenue grew 39% to $9.51 billion. Roughly half of the company's
revenue comes from markets outside the U.S.
In March, the company projected earnings of 52 cents to 56 cents
a share on a 35% to 40% jump in revenue, assuming exchanges rates
at that time.
New license revenue, a key measure of software growth, increased
14% and was up 15% excluding currency changes.
Operating margin narrowed to 34.7% from 42% as hardware is
generally a lower-margin business.
Software revenue grew 13% and the much-smaller services segment
had a 4% increase.
"It surprised me how the company continues to beat expectations
on the margin side," said Stepherson. "The stock is way
undervalued."
-By Jeanette Borzo, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230;
jeanette.borzo@dowjones.com
(John Kell contributed to this article.)
Sybase (NYSE:SY)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Mai 2024 à Juin 2024
Sybase (NYSE:SY)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juin 2023 à Juin 2024