News

Oracle's 3Q Profit Rises 35 Percent

Oracle Corp.'s fiscal third quarter profit climbed 35 percent, lifted by strong software sales that exceeded management's projections. The Redwood Shores-based business software maker said Tuesday that it earned $1.03 billion, or 20 cents per share, for the three months ended in February. That compared with net income of $765 million, or 14 cents per share, at the same time last year.

If not for certain expenses unrelated to its ongoing operations, Oracle said it would have earned 25 cents per share. That was 2 cents above the average estimate among analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue for the period totaled $4.41 billion, a 27 percent increase from $3.47 billion last year.

In a measure particularly important to investors, Oracle's sales of new software licenses also rose by 27 percent to $1.39 billion. That was better than the 16 to 22 percent increase that management forecast three months ago.

"We had aggressive guidance and exceeded on every metric," Safra Catz, Oracle's chief financial officer, said during a Tuesday conference call with reporters.

Oracle shares gained 37 cents to close at $17.55 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, then added another 81 cents, or 4.6 percent, in extended trading.

The performance provided further validation for a two-year shopping spree in which Oracle has spent more than $20 billion on acquisitions designed to boost its profits by at least 20 percent annually and increase its sales of business software applications _ the computer coding that automates a wide range of administrative tasks.

The company's earnings growth has now exceeded that target in five consecutive quarters.

Oracle expects to complete its latest deal, a $3.3 billion purchase of Hyperion Solutions Corp., by the end of next month.

Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.