Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL): Q4 Earnings Preview 2011

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), the world's largest enterprise software company, is scheduled to release fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, June 23, 2011. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 71 cents per share on revenue of $10.75 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 60 cents per share on revenue of $9.63 billion.

Oracle Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, servicing, and marketing of database, middleware, and application software worldwide. Oracle is organized into two businesses: software and services.

In the preceding fiscal third quarter, the Redwood Shores, California-based company's net income was $2.1 billion, or 41 cents per share, compared to $1.2 billion, or 23 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding stock options expense, amortization of intangible assets, restructuring charges and other items, non-GAAP net income for the third quarter was $2.8 billion or 54 cents per share, compared to $1.9 billion or 38 cents per share in the prior year quarter. Total GAAP revenues rose 37% to $8.76 billion from $6.40 billion a year ago. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of $0.49 per share on revenue of $8.66 billion. 

For the third quarter, Oracle expects non-GAAP EPS in constant currency to range between 48 cents and 50 cents. Assuming the current exchange, EPS is expected to range between 48 cents and 50 cents. This is up from 38 cents reported in the comparable quarter last year. Total revenue growth on a non-GAAP basis is expected to range from 31% to 35% at current exchange rate and 30% to 34% in constant currency. New software license revenue growth is expected to range from 10% to 20% at current exchange rate and 9% to 19% in constant currency. New software license sales are key for Oracle, because they represent new business, as opposed to the sale of maintenance or services to existing customers.

At its last earnings call in March, Oracle said that it anticipates that fourth-quarter earnings excluding items will be between 69 and 73 cents a share. Oracle expects new software license sales to increase between 9% and 19% compared to the period a year earlier, while hardware sales are expected to rise between 6% and 12%. The company said that it doesn’t anticipate a significant negative impact on its business from the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Japan represents roughly 5% of Oracle’s annual revenue. 

Oracle, which has spent more than $42 billion on acquisitions over the past six years, has seen sales grow faster than those of rivals as it cross-sells its database, middleware, business management software and hardware to the same set of customers.

Oracle has also benefited immensely from acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to its earnings by at least 15 cents per share on a non-GAAP basis in 2011. Oracle expects Sun to exceed the company’s targets for fiscal 2011 and 2012. The acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle’s non-GAAP operating profit in 2011, increasing to over $2 billion in 2012. Revenues from Sun Microsystems are expected to be $9.6 billion in 2011.

The company is attempting to reinvest itself as a "systems" company, one that has a complete "stack" of products, both hardware and software. Oracle has purchased a slew of companies in the past five years to reposition itself in the technology industry. 

The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye May 31, 2012) of 13.23 and PEG Ratio (5 yr expected) of 0.88. In terms of stock performance, Oracle shares are up nearly 33% over the past year.

Full Disclosure: None.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL): Q3 Earnings Preview 2011

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), the world's largest enterprise software company, is scheduled to release fiscal third quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, March 24, 2011. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of $0.49 per share on revenue of $8.66 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of $0.38 per share on revenue of $6.47 billion.

Oracle Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, servicing, and marketing of database, middleware, and application software worldwide. Oracle is organized into two businesses: software and services.

In the preceding fiscal second quarter, the Redwood Shores, California-based company's net income was $1.9 billion or $0.37 per share, compared to $1.5 billion or $0.29 per share for the year-ago quarter. Excluding stock options expense, amortization of intangible assets, restructuring charges and other items, non-GAAP net income for the second quarter was $2.6 billion or $0.51 per share, compared to $2.0 billion or $0.39 per share in the prior year quarter. Total GAAP revenues for the second quarter rose 47% to $8.58 billion from $5.86 billion a year ago, while non-GAAP revenue also increased 47% to $8.65 billion from $5.87 billion last year. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $8.34 billion.

For the third quarter, Oracle expects non-GAAP EPS in constant currency to range between 48 cents and 50 cents. Assuming the current exchange, EPS is expected to range between 48 cents and 50 cents. This is up from 38 cents reported in the comparable quarter last year. Total revenue growth on a non-GAAP basis is expected to range from 31% to 35% at current exchange rate and 30% to 34% in constant currency. New software license revenue growth is expected to range from 10% to 20% at current exchange rate and 9% to 19% in constant currency. New software license sales are key for Oracle, because they represent new business, as opposed to the sale of maintenance or services to existing customers.

Oracle, which has spent more than $42 billion on acquisitions over the past six years, has seen sales grow faster than those of rivals as it cross-sells its database, middleware, business management software and hardware to the same set of customers.

Oracle has also benefited immensely from acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to its earnings by at least 15 cents per share on a non-GAAP basis in 2011. Oracle expects Sun to exceed the company’s targets for fiscal 2011 and 2012. The acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle’s non-GAAP operating profit in 2011, increasing to over $2 billion in 2012. Revenues from Sun Microsystems are expected to be $9.6 billion in 2011.

The company is attempting to reinvest itself as a "systems" company, one that has a complete "stack" of products, both hardware and software. Oracle has purchased a slew of companies in the past five years to reposition itself in the technology industry. 

The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye May 31, 2012) of 13.70 and PEG Ratio (5 yr expected) of 1.00. In terms of stock performance, Oracle shares are up nearly 19% over the past year.

Full Disclosure: None.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL): Q2 Earnings Preview 2011

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), the world's largest enterprise software company, is scheduled to release fiscal second quarter earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, December 16, 2010. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $8.34 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 39 cents per share on revenue of $5.87 billion.

Oracle Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, servicing, and marketing of database, middleware, and application software worldwide. Oracle is organized into two businesses: software and services.

In the preceding fiscal first quarter, the Redwood Shores, California-based company's net income was $1.35 billion, or 27 cents a share, compared to $1.12 billion, or 22 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 42 cents a share in the latest quarter. Revenue jumped 48% to $7.5 billion from $5.05 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $7.27 billion.

Oracle is expected to benefit from its growing software business (62.7% of total revenue), which was robust in the first quarter across all regions and soared 14.6% year over year to $4.76 billion. Included in the Software segment, new software license revenues (16.9% of total revenue and 27.0% of total software revenue) shot up 25.1% to $1.29 billion. 

At its last earnings call in September, the company said that it expects second quarter non-GAAP EPS to be 45 cents to 47 cents in constant currency, and 44 cents to 46 cents, up from 39 cents last year, assuming current exchange rates. GAAP EPS for the second quarter is expected to be 28 cents to 30 cents assuming constant currency, 27 cents to 29 cents at current exchange rates. Total revenue growth on a non-GAAP basis is expected to range from 43% to 47% in constant currency and 39% to 43% at current exchange rates. On a GAAP basis, Oracle anticipates total revenue growth between 42% to 47% in constant currency, and 38% to 43% at current exchange rates. New software license revenue growth is expected to range from 9% to 19% in constant currency. Hardware product revenues are expected to be between $1 billion and $1.1 billion in constant currency. Oracle expects 3% negative currency effect on license growth rates and 4% negative effect on total revenue growth.

Oracle has also benefited immensely from acquisition of Sun Microsystems. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to its earnings by at least 15 cents per share on a non-GAAP basis in 2011. Oracle expects Sun to exceed the company’s targets for fiscal 2011 and 2012. The acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle’s non-GAAP operating profit in 2011, increasing to over $2 billion in 2012. Revenues from Sun Microsystems are expected to be $9.6 billion in 2011.

The company is attempting to reinvest itself as a "systems" company, one that has a complete "stack" of products, both hardware and software. Oracle has purchased a slew of companies in the past five years to reposition itself in the technology industry. Early in October, the software giant agreed to acquire Passlogix, a provider of enterprise single sign-on solutions. Early in November, Oracle agreed to buy Art Technology Group for $1 billion to boost ecommerce portfolio. The company noted that ATG's eCommerce software platform is highly complementary to its own CRM, ERP, Retail, and Supply Chain applications, in addition to its portfolio of middleware and business intelligence technologies. 

Last month, a federal jury in California ordered SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) to pay $1.3 billion, one of the highest amounts ever paid in software piracy, to Oracle as a compensation for copyright infringement. In addition, Oracle wants SAP to pay about $211.6 million in prejudgment interest. Oracle sued SAP in 2007 claiming its U.S.-based TomorrowNow unit, which is now defunct, made hundreds of thousands of illegal downloads and several thousand copies of Oracle's software to avoid paying licensing fees and steal customers.

In terms of stock performance, Oracle shares are up nearly 22% since the beginning of the year.

Full Disclosure: None.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL): Q3 Earnings Preview 2010

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), the world's largest enterprise software company, is scheduled to release financial results for the fiscal third quarter 2010 after the closing bell on Thursday, March 25, 2010. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 37 cents per share on revenue of $6.36 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $5.50 billion.

Oracle Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, servicing, and marketing of database, middleware, and application software worldwide. Oracle is organized into two businesses: software and services.

In the preceding fiscal second quarter, the Redwood Shores, California-based company reported that its net income rose to $1.5 billion or $0.29 per share, compared to $1.3 billion or $0.25 per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Excluding employee stock options expense, amortization of intangible assets, restructuring charges and other items, non-GAAP net income for the second quarter was $2.0 billion or $0.39 per share, compared to $1.7 billion or $0.34 per share in the prior year quarter. Revenue rose 4% to $5.86 billion from $5.61 billion a year ago. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of $0.36 per share on revenue of $5.69 billion.

The company is attempting to reinvest itself as a "systems" company, one that has a complete "stack" of products, both hardware and software. Oracle has purchased more than 60 companies in the past five years to reposition itself in the technology industry.

In January, Oracle completed the acquisition of Sun Microsystems Inc, a Santa Clara-based manufacturer of servers and storage equipment. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison recently said that the company expects Sun to add $1.5 billion to its operating profit this year.

Last month, Oracle Corp. announced that it has agreed to acquire Israel-based Convergin, a catalyst in developing J2EE-based Service Broker and network integration software for the communications industry. The acquisition will enable Oracle to step up the deployment of next-generation pre-paid and value-added services in the communications industry besides lowering the total cost. The company said that the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2010. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

In February 2010, Oracle agreed to acquire AmberPoint Inc, an Oakland-based developer of visibility, management and security software. Oracle said that the addition of AmberPoint’s software will help diagnose and manage the performance of business applications, provide monitoring for application performance and will enrich SOA design time with run-time metrics for SOA governance.

The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye 31-May-11) of 13.30 and PEG Ratio (5 yr expected) of 1.15. In terms of stock performance, Oracle shares are up 62% over the past year.

Full Disclosure: None.