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Technology Stocks : Oracle Corporation (ORCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Still Rolling who wrote (8767)	11/6/1998 8:58:00 AM
From: MeDroogies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19080

I asked that question yesterday, and got no answers, so I figured that everyone wanted to discuss vaguely related issues. Again, I'll reiterate my question for TA - Now that we have passed a 200 day MA, what does the future hold according to standard TA? Based on past similar experience, I'd say that ORCL will crash through 35, then fall back to about 32/33 before its next climb begins. Does that fit any models? (I'm not a TA)

To: Still Rolling who wrote (8767)	11/6/1998 10:05:00 AM
From: John F. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19080

According to hardly you would want to check in with Pennfield Jackson on how high ORCL will go.

To: Still Rolling who wrote (8767)	11/9/1998 4:19:00 AM
From: Neil H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19080

Article from San Jose Mercury Posted at 8:04 p.m. PST Tuesday, November 3, 1998 Oracle taking risk branching the business Nov. 4, 1998 BY ADAM LASHINSKY Mercury News Staff Writer IN the beginning, Lawrence J. Ellison created Oracle Corp.'s (Nasdaq, ORCL) database business, and it was good. But when that product line faltered, Ellison brought in Booz Allen & Hamilton consultant Raymond L. Lane, who boosted the company's fledgling consulting practice and helped develop a still burgeoning software applications business. Now, as Chairman and CEO Ellison hones his message of network computing and a former rival (Sybase ex-CEO Mitchell Kertzman) joins Oracle's would-be Internet software spin-off, Network Computer Inc., President and Chief Operating Officer Lane is spearheading what Oracle hopes will be a fourth pillar to its slowing businesses. Oracle is developing a unit that will provide, for a fee, online management of functions like financial reporting and human resources for customers who currently buy its applications. The project is known in industry jargon as a ''service bureau.'' It still is in the pilot stage, and although Oracle plans to launch it formally next year it shouldn't be a meaningful contributor to the company's revenue until after the turn of the century. Investors should care, however, because its very existence suggests Oracle has a long-term growth plan that goes beyond jawboning Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq, MSFT) and butting heads with similarly flailing enterprise software makers like PeopleSoft Inc. (Nasdaq, PSFT) and Baan Cos. (Nasdaq, BAANF). ''We're pretty bullish on it,'' Lane told a gathering of tech-industry CEOs in La Jolla earlier in the week. ''We think it's the next big thing.'' The notion is something of a big deal almost because Lane says so. He won't disclose how much Oracle is spending to develop the new business or what the revenue targets are. He notes only that industry analyst Forrester Research Inc. believes such a niche for network management of applications services will generate $6 billion of revenues by 2001. He doesn't endorse Forrester's assessment of the market size but suggests there will be revenues aplenty for Oracle. And Oracle will need them. The company's database business is hugely successful but mature. According to Lane, there is only one Fortune 100 industrial company (he can't recall the name) that is not an Oracle database customer. More, Oracle's stock is stuck. It has traded between about $20 and $30 for all of 1998, after briefly topping $40 last year. Lane notes that America Online Inc. (NYSE, AOL) has a market value of $29 billion, an amount equal to about 210 times its trailing earnings. In comparison, Oracle's capitalization is about the same but its valuation is only 30 times earnings. Says Lane: ''If they can create that kind of market cap dealing in the consumer market, imagine what someone could do in the business market,'' which is far bigger. A word of caution. Oracle's plan carries a high degree of danger. If it works, it implicitly siphons off some of its existing business by giving customers an easier way to gain access to its products. In other words, subscribing to an Oracle-managed network for salesforce automation, for example, obviates the need for a company to purchase and implement Oracle's application in that field. Oracle still gets the revenue, but it changes the entire way its highly motivated salesforce completes deals. Still, the history of Silicon Valley suggests that companies trying to stay one step ahead of their industries are more likely to succeed than those who play defense. Concludes Lane: ''It may be the last change our industry ever sees.'' Regards Neil