In a surprise — and after missing revenue estimates three quarters in a row — Oracle slightly beat Wall Street s earnings expectations last quarter. Can the company do it again?
When the Silicon Valley giant reports its third-quarter results after the markets close today, analysts and investors will be especially interested in whether the company continued to see growth in its cloud business. In December, Oracle reported that cloud revenue rose 45 percent in the second quarter compared to the year-ago period. But the Wall Street Journal points out that Oracle s cloud business will probably account for less than 6 percent of the company s sales this year.
So license revenue will be key. As the Mercury News reported after last quarter s earnings report, FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives pointed out that Oracle s bread-and-butter database business remains under pressure.
This time around, the WSJ says Oracle may be helped by low expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Oracle to report earnings of 68 cents a share on $9.46 billion in revenue, which would amount to flat and a mere 2 percent growth from the year-ago period, respectively.
But other concerns include the strong U.S. dollar, which would negatively affect revenue. And Recode mentions that other companies in the business of enterprise hardware, such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM, have reported weak results or guidance lately.
Oracle shares are down less than 1 percent as of 10:50 a.m. Pacific time.
Photo of Oracle headquarters by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News archives
