Photo Credit:Peter Kaminski
Oracle Corporation (ORCL) Information Technology – Software | Reports September 15, After Market Closes
Oracle is scheduled to report first quarter earnings and kick off its fiscal 2017 today after the opening bell. The tech giant is typically one of the earlier reports in the season that doesn’t officially kick off until Alcoa’s report. Oracle is coming off a strong fourth quarter, delivering improving growth and better than expected sales. The expected rollout of new products and the integration of Netsuite should help bolster sales as the company switches its focus to a subscription based model. Even so tomorrow’s results should continue to tack on to the gains made this year.
Analysts at Estimize are calling for earnings per share of 59 cents, 12% higher than the same period last year. That estimate has dropped 11% since Oracle’s most recent report in June. Revenue for the period is estimated 3% higher to $8.74 billion, marking a second consecutive quarter of positive growth. Shares of Oracle are up 10.5% year to date but historically drop 1% following an earnings report.
Oracle’s transition to cloud computing in its Saas, PaaS and Big Data divisions has been nothing but promising. While the company enjoys a leading position in enterprise and database management systems, they are also gaining ground in the rapidly growing cloud sector. New products and the acquisition of NetSuite should help capture greater market share in spite of falling licensing revenue. Further strategic acquisitions will also play a significant role in expanding the company’s product portfolio.
Despite a dedicated focus on cloud computing, it won’t be all smoothing sailing. The software provider is operating in a top heavy industry, facing competition from the likes of Google, IBM and Amazon.
