Oracle Earnings: Profit Rises for Third Straight Quarter, but Misses Estimates

Falling revenue did not prevent S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) from reporting a profit boost in the first quarter. Oracle develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and services software designed to help its customers manage and grow their businesses.

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Oracle Corporation Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for Oracle Corporation rose to $2.03 billion (41 cents per share) vs. $1.84 billion (36 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 10.5% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Fell 2.3% to $8.18 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Oracle Corporation fell short of the mean analyst estimate of 51 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $8.45 billion.

Quoting Management: “On a non-GAAP basis, new software licenses and cloud software subscriptions sales grew 11% in constant currency and operating margin increased to 44% in Q1,” said Oracle President and CFO, Safra Catz. “Q1 operating cash flow increased to a record high of $5.7 billion. We’re off to a good start in the new year.”

Key Stats:

The company has now seen net income rise in three straight quarters. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, net income rose 7.6% and in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, the figure rose 18.1%.

A year-over-year revenue decrease last quarter breaks a four-quarter streak of revenue increases. The best quarter in that span was the first quarter of the last fiscal year, which saw revenue rise 11.6%.

The company fell short of forecasts after beating estimates in the previous two quarters. In the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, it topped the mark by 3 cents, and in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, it was ahead by 4 cents.

Looking Forward: The average estimate for the second quarter remains unchanged at 59 cents a share. The average estimate for the fiscal year is $2.56 per share, a rise from $2.55 ninety days ago.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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