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Technology Stocks : Earnings: Small Cap Tech/ Software -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (156)	3/15/2002 1:32:09 AM
From: 2MAR$	Respond to of 238

ORCL ( $15-$13) pe= 31 Cap=$74Bil reports 13% drop in profit, 30% decline in software sales stockcharts.com[h,a]daclyiay[pc5!c20!f][vc60][iut!Lh5,5!La12,26,9]&pref=G SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 14, 2002 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- Oracle Corp. reported another disappointing quarter Thursday, amplifying concerns that the stumbling software giant might not regain its footing as quickly as the rest of the industry. The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based company earned $507.9 million US, or nine cents a share, in its fiscal quarter ending Feb. 28, a 13 per cent drop from net income of $582.7 million US, or 10 cents a share, at the same time in the prior year. However, the results were in line with analysts' reduced expectations. The results matched the lowered expectations Oracle set March 1 when the company warned it would miss its previous earnings target of 10 cents per share. Oracle's quarterly revenue totalled $2.23 billion, a 17 per cent decrease from $2.67 billion from last year. More significantly to investors, the company's sales of software licenses plunged 30 per cent from the prior year to $789.6 million. It represented the sharpest decline during four consecutive quarters of Oracle's falling software sales. The latest erosion is particularly disquieting because the quarter is being compared to the period in the prior year when Oracle's softening sales first became evident, said industry analyst Mark Verback of ThinkEquity Partners. That should have made the quarter "a lay-up and they missed the lay-up, so everyone is really surprised," Verback said. Management also expected more favourable comparisons and "we still did pretty badly," Jeff Henley, the company's chief financial officer, said in an interview. Management blames the slowdown almost entirely on a recession that prompted companies around the world to curb their spending on software and other technology. Oracle maintains its business will recover in step with the rest of the industry. "Things just aren't getting better," Henley said. "The overall economy might be getting better, but there seems to be a lag in technology. I don't think we are unique in that regard. I think we are indicative of what is going on." While most analysts acknowledged the economic downturn has hurt Oracle, they also believe the company created some of its own problems. "About 80 per cent of Oracle's problems are from self-inflicted wounds and 20 per cent are from the economy," said industry analyst Robert Austrian of Banc of America Securities. Since Oracle's earnings warning, the company's shares have fallen 16 per cent, closing at $13.44, down 45 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange before Thursday's announcement. The shares fell another 29 cents in after-hours trading. Meanwhile, the stocks of Oracle's major rivals have rallied. The surge largely reflects expectations of a modest recovery in technology spending during the second half of the year, said industry analyst Chuck Phillips of Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter. Oracle might not bounce back as quickly, though, because it continues to face a price war in its main database market against Microsoft, analysts said. On the applications side of its business, Oracle is still trying to overcome perceptions that a much-hyped suite of Internet software is plagued with bugs. Through the first nine months of its current fiscal year, Oracle earned $1.57 billion, or 27 cents a share, on revenue $6.83 billion, down from net income of $1.7 billion, or 29 cents a share, on revenue of $7.6 billion in the previous year.