Oracle’s quarterly profit forecast doesn’t meet expectations
Business software maker Oracle Corp delivered a third-quarter profit forecast this Wednesday that did not quite meet analysts’ expectations, and the company’s shares fell about 1% in extended trading.
Oracle forecast third-quarter profit of about 63-66 cents per share, with revenue flat or up 3% which translates to $9.33 billion-$9.61 billion.
The company’s shift from licensing software to cloud-based subscriptions has squeezed its margins.
Analysts on average were expecting profit of 65 cents per share on revenue of $9.28 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Oracle, like other established technology companies, has been moving its business to the cloud-based model, essentially providing services remotely via data centers rather than selling installed software.
In the second quarter ended November 30, revenue from the company’s cloud-computing software and platform service rose 34% to $484m.
Total revenue fell 6.3% to $8.99 billion, missing analysts average estimate of $9.06 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Oracle’s second-quarter net income fell to $2.2 billion, or 51 cents per share, from $2.5 billion, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, it earned 63 cents per share, beating average analysts’ estimate of 60 cents per share.
Oracle Corporation is an American global computer technology corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California and employs 135,070 people worldwide.
