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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Woody_Nickels who wrote (52535)	6/23/2011 4:52:44 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	1 Recommendation Respond to of 95383

Oracle net tops views, but shares sink 4:40 PM ET 6/23/11 \| Marketwatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Oracle Corp. on Thursday posted a quarterly profit gain that topped Wall Street estimates, as the business software and hardware maker saw overall revenue rise 13% compared with the same period last year. However, a decline in sales of hardware during the quarter -- after Oracle had previously forecast an increase of up to 12% -- put a damper on the company's results. Oracle shares fell more than 6% in after-hours trades. Oracle (ORCL) said its fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose to $3.2 billion, or 62 cents a share, from $2.4 billion or 46 cents a share in the same period last year. Revenue for the period ended May 31 rose to $10.8 billion. Excluding one-time items, Oracle said earnings for the quarter were 75 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected fourth-quarter earnings excluding items of 71 cents a share on $10.8 billion in revenue. In a statement, Oracle President and Chief Financial Officer Safra Catz cited "strong organic growth," coupled with "improving operational efficiencies." Yet the company also reported that sales of hardware systems fell 6% to $1.2 billion. Hardware performance was expected to be a highlight of Oracle's report. During its third-quarter earnings call in March, Oracle had predicted a gain in hardware sales during the fourth quarter between 6% and 12%. Oracle, traditionally strong in business software, closed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems last year, which has allowed it to expand its line of compatible hardware used by large corporations to compile and process data. Sales of new software licenses, a key metric for Oracle that represents business with new customers, rose 19% in the fourth quarter to $3.7 billion, according to the company. Software-license and update and product-support revenue rose 15% to $4 billion. Despite the decline in hardware sales during the quarter, Oracle President Mark Hurd touted the fact that more than 1,000 of the company's Exadata machines now have been installed worldwide. Oracle originally unveiled the Exadata product in 2008, in partnership with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Oracle has since fallen out with H-P, and hired Hurd, H-P's former chief executive, to run its hardware business. In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, H-P called Oracle a "bitter antagonist." Subsequent Exadata models were designed with Sun.