Oracle Tumbles 7% as Sales Stall, Miss Views

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) logged an in-line 10% increase in fiscal fourth-quarter profits on Thursday and doubled its dividend, but the business software maker’s sales unexpectedly stalled amid trouble on the hardware front.

Shares of the Larry Ellison-run company retreated more than 8% in extended trading on the weaker-than-expected revenue figures.

Oracle said it earned $3.8 billion, or 80 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $3.45 billion, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier.

On a non-GAAP basis, the company said it earned 87 cents a share, matching consensus calls from analysts.

Revenue was unchanged at $10.9 billion and non-GAAP revenue was flat at $11.0 billion, trailing the Street’s view of $11.1 billion.

Oracle said its new software licenses and cloud software subscriptions inched up 1% to $4.03 billion, while software license updates and product support rose 6% to $4.40 billion. Overall, software revenue increased 4% to $8.43 billion, totaling 77% of the company’s total top line.

On the hardware front, Oracle’s systems products revenue slumped 13% to $849 million and systems support sales dipped 3% to $582 million. Overall hardware revenue decreased 9% and now accounts for 13% of Oracle’s revenue, compared with 14% a year earlier.

Oracle said services revenue slid 9% to $1.09 billion.

Despite the sales miss, Oracle said its board of directors approved a plan to boost the company’s dividend to 12 cents a share, compared with 6 cents a share previously. The new payout will be payable on August 2 to shareholders of record as of July 12.

The Oracle board also authorized an additional $12 billion of share buybacks under its existing repurchase program.

Separately, Oracle unveiled plans to transfer its common stock listing from Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) to NYSE Euronext’s (NYSE:NYX) New York Stock Exchange, which is being acquired by IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE).

Oracle said it will begin trading on the Big Board on July 15 under the ticker symbol “ORCL.”

Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle tumbled 7.02% to $30.87 in extended trading on Thursday. The selloff threatens to extend Oracle’s yearlong underperformance, with its stock down 0.33% on the year as of Thursday’s close.