Oracle Q4 earnings boost investor confidence

Oracle has announced that revenues for its fourth quarter, ending 31 May, were up 39% to $9.5bn (£6.4bn) and earnings of 46 cents a share, up 24% compared with the same period a year ago.

Download this free guide

Why customer relationship management is turning to AI for assistance

In this e-guide, we look at how AI is powering retail customer experience, why SAP Hybris could paint the future of commerce and how Ulster bank is faring after adopting a full-scale Salesforce Einstein CRM.

Start Download

• Corporate E-mail Address:

  You forgot to provide an Email Address.

  This email address doesn’t appear to be valid.

  This email address is already registered. Please login.

  You have exceeded the maximum character limit.

  Please provide a Corporate E-mail Address.

• • I agree to TechTarget’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, and the transfer of my information to the United States for processing to provide me with relevant information as described in our Privacy Policy.

  Please check the box if you want to proceed.

• • I agree to my information being processed by TechTarget and its Partners to contact me via phone, email, or other means regarding information relevant to my professional interests. I may unsubscribe at any time.

  Please check the box if you want to proceed.

By submitting my Email address I confirm that I have read and accepted the Terms of Use and Declaration of Consent.

New software licence revenues were up 14% to $3.1bn, and licence updates and product support revenues were up 12% to $3.4bn.

Safra Catz said Oracle had succeeded in making the recently-acquired Sun Microsystems profitable.

"We estimate that Sun contributed over $400m to non-GAAP operating income in our Q4," said Catz.

The results added to optimism that Oracle's fortunes are improving rapidly with the economic recovery, contributing to a 4% rise in its shares in after-market trading, analysts said.

For the quarter, operating income was up 14% to $3.3bn, operating margin was 35%, and net income was up 25% to $2.4bn.

"We continue to take large chunks of market share away from SAP," said Oracle president, Charles Phillips.

"Over the past twelve months Oracle's applications business has grown 5% on a constant dollar basis, while SAP's business has declined 24% over their previous four quarters," he said.

Larry Ellison, Oracle chief executive, pointed to gains against IBM. "Version 2 of our Sun Exadata database machine outperforms IBM's fastest computer in both data warehousing and transaction processing," he said.

Ellison claimed that as a result, some of IBM's largest customers began buying Exadata machines rather than big IBM servers in Q4 of Oracle's financial year ending 2010.