The results raised the eyebrows of industry watchers, who are looking for clues as to how well Oracle is executing on the integration of PeopleSoft’s business, which it acquired in January.
Redwood City, California-based Oracle said more of its customers running PeopleSoft had signed support contract renewals than when PeopleSoft was a standalone entity.
Nobody predicted that, said chief executive Larry Ellison. They’re happy, we’re happy.
The company’s second fiscal-quarter revenues totaled $798m, or 15 cents a share, down from $815m, or 16 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose to $3.3bn from $2.8bn.
Oracle’s profit excluding one-time items, of 19 cents a share, met Wall Street’s average expectation of 19 cents. However, analysts had hoped for $3.41bn in revenue.
Revenue from software license updates was the stand out in the quarter, rising 25% to $1.6bn. New software licenses climbed 9% to $1bn from a year ago, while overall software revenue increased 18% to $2.6bn.
Looking ahead to its current third quarter, Oracle said it expects to earn 19 cents a share before items on revenue of between $3.4bn to $3.5bn.
