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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RR who wrote (56435)	12/19/2002 2:20:06 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Oracle Results Beat Co. Forecast, Stock Up Wed Dec 18, 5:51 PM ET REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. (Reuters) - Database giant Oracle Corp. on Wednesday posted earnings and revenues that were better than its own cautious forecast, and said it is working to turn around still-shrinking sales of its software for managing business functions. Jeff Henley, Oracle's chief financial officer, told reporters it remains difficult to predict the future, but that he believes high-tech has seen the worst the current economic slump has to offer. "I think we've hit bottom and will start coming up," he said on a teleconference following the release of earnings. Shares of Oracle (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) -- the world's second-biggest software company -- ended the regular Nasdaq session down 3.5 percent at $10.63, but jumped to around $11.15 following the company's positive earnings surprise. Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle had net income of $535 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with net income of $549 million, or 10 cents, in the year-earlier fiscal second quarter ended Nov. 30. Total revenue slipped to $2.31 billion from $2.38 billion. Key database sales were up just a hair from a year earlier at $643 million, while sales of Oracle's applications that manage accounting, purchasing and human resources continued to struggle and fell 34 percent to $108 million. In all, total software license sales were down 7 percent year-on-year, as corporate budgets continued to be constrained. "We're pleased that our database business started to grow again this quarter," Larry Ellison, Oracle's co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement. Oracle's conservative second-quarter forecast had called for earnings of 8 cents to 9 cents a share on total revenues that were down 4 percent to 7 percent year-on-year -- or to between $2.21 billion and $2.29 billion. (Story continues after advertisement) ADVERTISEMENT SOFT SPOT "It was a good quarter," said David Hilal, managing director of technology research at investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. Hilal does not own Oracle stock and his firm has not had a banking relationship with the software company. The soft spot in Oracle's results, Hilal said, was applications. "They've got to get their arms around the applications business. The company's long-term health depends on them having success within the apps business," Hilal said. Oracle CFO Henley told reporters that the weakness in applications stems from the sales organization, and that Oracle is working to address that. "We're frustrated because we really do think we do have a great product," Henley said. Oracle recently shook up its North American sales operation and some analysts had worried the move could have a negative impact on second-quarter sales. On other fronts, Oracle cut 851 jobs -- or 2 percent of its total work force -- during the quarter to end at 40,645. Henley said many of those jobs were previously announced cuts to the company's consulting business.

To: RR who wrote (56435)	12/19/2002 2:32:09 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

<<...The family will be splitting time between Vail and Breckenridge. Head out next week...>> RR: hope you and your family have a great time skiing -- there should be plenty of snow. My brother is flying in from Arizona on Friday (he's in grad school down in Tucson)...we'll spend the weekend together in Chicago and then head to Michigan to join the family for the holidays -- it should be a great time and i'm hoping to play LOTS of paddle tennis with friends and relatives. regards, -s2